Patent Leather.

CBC Radio One - Who Owns Ideas?

2008-09-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

A recent CBC Radio Ideas feature entitled "Who owns Ideas?" discusses the progression of intellectual property law and specifically copyright law. The host describes a tension in copyright law that has become known as the copyfight, and it's ultimately a dispute about who owns ideas. CBC has

eDiscovery

2008-08-28T20:12:00.000-07:00

I read a great (and short) article in Wired Magazine describing the current state of document discovery for litigations. Technology has increased the already large number of documents generally involved in complex litigations. Fortunately (or not so) the electronic format makes the document more consumable and discoverable. For example, current document management systems allow for content

Olympic Patents - Speedo Suit

2008-08-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of the Olympics (and a record breaking swimming Olympics) I thought I would highlight United States Patent Application 2008/0141431 filed by Speedo on August 16, 2007 for the torso swimsuit we have seen on the Olympians. The application describes a garment (e.g. a swim suit) having a base layer of stretchable elasticated fabric, the base layer having a torso portion that

Hasbro, Inc. v. RJ Softwares et al

2008-07-31T20:17:00.000-07:00

Hasbro, Inc. v. RJ Softwares et al. was filed July 24, 2008 in the New York Southern District Court. This case relates to an allegation of trade-mark and copyright law infringement against the makers of the Facebook application Scrabulous.The effect is that the well used Facebook application Scrabulous is shut down. I'm not a big user of Facebook or the application, but the New York Times reports

Symbian mobile OS opens up

2008-07-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

It is great to read that Nokia now fully owns Symbian, a huge player in the mobile device OS field (runs on Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Erricson devices), and established the Symbian Foundation to release the OS under the Eclipse public license. It will be interesting to read these public license terms in detail.This move by Nokia may have been influenced by Google's recent acquisition of Android,

Patent Application for Online Shopping by Apple

2008-06-20T06:45:00.000-07:00

U.S. Patent Application 2008/0091553 assigned to Apple Computer Inc. titled "Enhancing Online Shopping Atmosphere" was recently published on April 17, 2008.According to the background of the application: "one drawback of online shopping is that the experience can feel sterile and isolating. Customers in such an environment may be less likely to have positive feelings about the online

Bill C-61

2008-06-14T19:24:00.001-07:00

This issue is press heavy. I am reading the Bill, re-reading it, and enjoying the commentary.Text of Bill C-61 here.Great fact sheets here.Information of the legislative process re a Canadian Bill here.

Radiohead v. Prince

2008-06-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

I attended Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival this year, where Prince performed on the Saturday night and covered Radiohead's 'Creep'. When clips appeared on YouTube Prince's label had them removed. Thom Yorke responded:"Really? He's blocked it?" asked Yorke, who figured it was their song to block or not. "Surely we should block it. Hang on a moment."Yorke added: "Well, tell him to unblock

New Copyright Bill this Summer

2008-06-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

Geist reports on his blog that the new Copyright Bill is being introduced Wednesday.The draft may well circulate before the CSUSA meeting next week.

CSUSA - Annual Meeting

2008-06-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

The Copyright Society of the USA (CSUSA) is having their general meeting on June 8th to June 10th in Newport, Rhode Island. CSUSA is:"dedicated to advancing the study of copyright law and related rights in literature, music, art, theater, motion pictures, television, computer software, architecture, and other works of authorship, distributed via both traditional and new media".Page of meeting

solar iPods

2008-05-31T00:17:00.000-07:00

I came across a patent application relating to solar cells on portable devices. It may be linked to (or owned by) Apple.U.S. Patent Application No. 20080094025A sample claim:A portable data processing system, comprising:a processing system;a memory coupled to the processing system;a set of solar cells coupled to the processing system, the set of solar cells including a first group of

Orphan works

2008-05-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

A great resource for orphan works is the U.S. Copyright Office's pageFor a detailed review check out the Statement of Marybeth Peters before the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and IP. The recommendation:"we recommended a framework whereby a legitimate orphan works owner who resurfaces may bring an action for “reasonable compensation” against a qualifying user. A user does not qualify for

ACTA

2008-05-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is an international treaty for establishing global standards for intellectual property law."ACTA is spearheaded by the United States, the European Commission, Japan, and Switzerland — those countries with the largest intellectual property industries. Other countries invited to participate in ACTA’s negotiation process are Canada, Australia, Korea,

Google friend connect

2008-05-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Google has just announced a new social networking application, that opens up networking technology. By building on top of existing APIs, Google friend connect merges existing social networking sites. One simply embeds the application into their website, and instantly the website is connected into the network. Your friends can comment on sites, and their messages will be published to you.I wonder

OCE Discovery 08

2008-05-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

Ontario Centres for Excellence (OCE) is hosting a conference: Discovery 2008 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, May 12-13. OCE supports innovation and commercialization - and there is a great showroom.

Virtual Law Firm

2008-05-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

I've been looking into virtual law firms and came across this articleabout a law firm XDL Group that exists in second life and units real world lawyers.

tineye

2008-05-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

Tineye is a new image search engine - from a Toronto based company.

Video Gaming Symposium

2008-04-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

Bell Univeristy Labs at UofT is holding a Video Gaming Research Symposium on May 13, 2008: click here.This is a great way to check out what video gaming research is being carried out at UofT.

Ringtones Case

2008-04-11T23:14:00.000-07:00

I am waiting for the Supreme Courts decision on whether they are going to hear the infamous Ringtones case: CWTA, Telus, Bell v. SOCAN.In January 2008 The Federal Court of Appeal sided in favor of SOCAN and decided first that transmitting a ringtone file to a cell phone is a "communication" under Copyright law, and second that it is a "communication to the public". This allows SOCAN to collect

iSummit 08

2008-04-05T20:34:00.000-07:00

Insight: Copyright in Canada

2008-03-10T19:09:00.001-07:00

A conference on copyright law in Canada, that has some interesting topics on digital copyright issues - click here.May 12-13, 2008 Old Mill, Toronto.

Plews v. Pausch (Alta. QB)

2008-03-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

Date of decision: 2006-08-09At issue was the difference between an idea and its fixed expression.An academic supervisor was found to not infringe a student's copyright when writing an article on the student's PhD topic.Full text of decision here.

Viacom et al v. Youtube et al

2008-03-08T20:36:00.000-08:00

I have been following the above U.S. copyright infringement lawsuit. Click here for links to the court documents.

Tech Law Conference

2008-03-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

OBA 4th Annual Technology in Bloom: New Developments in Technology Law conference.April 3rd, 2008 in Toronto, Canada.

mesh conference

2008-03-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

Looking forward to Canada's web conference: mesh.May 21st and 2nd, 2008 in Toronto, Canada.