Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

The Silenced Minority: When The Riaa Charges College Radio For Online Broadcasts, Will The Public End Up Paying?, Eleanor Lackman

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Ucita, Copyright, And Capture, Deborah Tussey

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Cross Border E-Commerce And The Gst/Hst: Towards International Consensus Or Divergence?, Keith R. Evans

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In February 2001, the OECD issued a draft report on ‘‘Consumption Tax Aspects of Electronic Commerce’’. The purpose of this report was to seek comments on Working Party No. 9’s conclusions and recommendations in respect of the approach to be taken on the application of consumption taxes to e-commerce in light of the Ottawa Taxation Framework Conditions. The 1998 Conditions called for the taxation principles that applied to traditional commerce to be the guide for the taxation of e-commerce, to ensure non-discriminatory tax treatment of electronic commerce transactions. In November 2001, the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (‘‘CCRA’’) issued its …

Fragmented Copyright, Fragmented Management: Proposals To Defrag Copyright Management, Daniel Gervais, Alana Maurushat

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The collective management of copyright in Canada was conceived as a solution to alleviate the problem of inefficiency of individual rights management. Creators could not license, collect and enforce copyright efficiently on an individual basis. Requiring users to obtain permission from individual copyright holders for the use of a work was equally inefficient. Collectives, therefore, emerged to facilitate the clearance of rights between creators and users. Even with the facilitation of collectives in the process, clearing rights remains an inherently difficult and convoluted process. This is especially so in the age of the Internet where clearing rights for multimedia products …

Qui Détient Les Droits D'Auteur Sur Les Diverses Productions Des Professeurs D'Université?, René Pépin

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

L’utilisation des nouvelles technologies de l’information et de la communication (NTIC) peut prendre un grand nombre de formes. On peut donner l’exemple, déjà appliqué à certains endroits, où le professeur, en plus de dispenser son enseignement dans un local de cours, place le contenu intégral de son cours sur un serveur de la faculté ou de l’université, avec un genre de babillard électronique dans lequel les étudiants peuvent lui poser des questions, lire ses réponses, ou discuter entre eux de différents sujets. Les étudiants peuvent aussi le contacter par téléphone ou par courriel. La technologie facilite également l’enregistrement des cours …

The Internet Direct Public Offering: Establishing Trust In A Disintermediated Capital Market, Jason Trainor

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Whereas the process of financial intermediation was once human capital and relationship intensive, it is now heavily influenced by technological innovation and consumer demand, factors which have tended to disrupt the monopoly power of financial intermediaries. Technological innovation alone, however, is not sufficient to replace the institutions and actors that previously dominated the market for public offerings; rather, the concept of disintermediation by definition creates a vacuum that must be filled. Law firms and other intermediaries can create additional value for their clients by assuming some or all of the tasks currently apportioned to investment bankers in the public offering …

Reducing Inconsistency In Udrp Cases, David Wotherspoon, Alex Cameron

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The UDRP has proven to be an effective means of resolving domain name disputes. There are, however, a number of shortcomings in the UDRP that affect its legitimacy and fairness. The most glaring of these lies in the failure to delineate the elements outlined in section 4(a) of the UDRP and in the application of Rule 15(a) of the Rules for Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the ‘‘Rules’’).4 These shortcomings have resulted in inconsistency in the decisions of arbitral panels. As it stands, complainants are unable to ascertain the case they must meet in order to succeed and respondents are …

Patentable Subject [Anti]Matter, Kristoffer Leftwich

Duke Law & Technology Review

The statements, "The laws of nature," "the principles of nature," "the fundamental truths," etc., are not patentable, have been oft repeated but seldom understandingly used. They have led to misunderstanding and much confusion, not limited to members of the bar. In fact, the words... are all words of broad and also elastic meaning and are frequently used carelessly and without any attempt at refined distinctions.

Technology Law, J. Douglas Cuthbertson, Glen L. Gross

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Belling The Cat, Virtually: Review Of Stuart Biegel's Beyond Our Control?, Shubha Ghosh

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Festo: Blessing To Patent Holders Or Thorn In Their Sides?, Jennifer Miller

Duke Law & Technology Review

The Supreme Court makes another attempt to strike a balance between protecting an inventor's patent rights and ensuring adequate notice to the public of what constitutes patent infringement. This iBrief discusses the Supreme Court ruling in Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., Ltd. and its foreseeable effects on the practice of patent law.

Software Patents: What One-Click Buy And Safe Air Travel Have In Common, Michael Guntersdorfer

Duke Law & Technology Review

Have you ever sat in an airplane, typing on your laptop, when the darn thing crashes for the one-millionth time? Have you ever then thought about how the airplane you are sitting in is controlled by software, too--the technical term being "fly by wire"--and then started sweating uncontrollably? Software controls not only air traffic but plenty of other safety-critical technologies: the tightrope walk of controlling the chain reaction of radioactive elements in nuclear power plants; the navigation and activation of missiles;3 the moves and cutting-depth of a surgical laser when correcting eye-sights; the list goes on... With such reliance on …

Open Source, Open Arms: An Open-Ended Question, Alana Maurushat

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper is structured to address several aspects and challenges to the open source movement. Beginning with an outline of the historical and cultural components of the open source movement, the paper will move on to explore the economic and philosophical underpinnings of intellectual property. It will be demonstrated that open source finds itself uniquely situated within these theories and doctrines. The questions that open source poses for intellectual property will then be examined. My arguments will stem from the general premise that open source is threatened by three mechanisms: the uncertainty of the validity of open source licenses, potentially …

Solving Legal Issues In Electronic Government: Jurisdiction, Regulation, Governance, John D. Gregory

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper looks at who can be governed, what can be governed, and how it can be governed in an electronic world. Whether law aims to be enabling (i.e., confirming the ground rules and the legal effectiveness of general conduct) or normative (i.e., imposing standards of conduct on more or less willing subjects), the new media presents difficulties for its rational evolution.

These are distinct questions from those raised by government online. Electronic service delivery issues tend to focus on how government can carry on its traditional programs using electronic means and how the law can support it in doing …

Global Trecs: The Regulation Of International Trade In Cyberspace, J. Steele

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper provides an overview of trade-related aspects of electronic commerce, and examines three approaches for regulating international trade in cyber- space. A model which integrates these approaches is then proposed, emphasizing private standards of self-regula- tion within a broader public framework of minimal background standards. A summary of potential areas of conflict between competing regulatory approaches fol- lows, and the paper concludes that both the WTO and the OECD have important roles to play in the develop- ment of international consensus towards a harmonized framework for the regulation of global TRECs.

M-Commerce: The Notion Of Consumer Consent In Receiving Location-Based Advertising, Eloïse Gratton

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The development of location-based advertising, for all its convenience and usefulness, introduces new and heightened privacy risks for consumers that must be addressed. The portability of wireless devices and the ubiquity of their applications, coupled with an ability to pinpoint the location of wireless users and reveal it to others, could produce a system where the everyday activities and movements of these users are tracked and recorded. Wireless users would receive unanticipated advertising messages on their wireless device, commonly referred to as ‘‘wireless spam’’, generally considered a form of privacy violation.

In order to obtain a valid consent from the …

The Patriation Of .Ca, Gregory R. Hagen, Kim G. Von Arx

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Country code top level domains (‘‘ccTLD’’s), such as .ca, are distinct from generic top-level domains (‘‘gTLD’’s), such as .com, in that they are generally conceived to be associated with a specific country. In Canada, the authority to operate the technical functions of the .ca domain name registry has been delegated to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (‘‘CIRA’’) by a United States non-profit corporation, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (‘‘ICANN’’). The authority to make policy regarding the .ca has purportedly been delegated to CIRA by the Government of Canada. There is an issue, however, as to whether ICANN’s …

The New Singapore Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy: The Context Of The Common Law And Icann's Udrp, Richard Wu

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In this article, I will analyse the salient features of the Policy and evaluate the extent to which they match international practice. I will focus, in particular, upon the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the rules made under the UDRP. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the international body responsible for domain name management, adopted both in 1999. As the nature of domain name disputes and dispute resolution rules are very similar in different countries, domain name disputes are becoming a global phenomenon, leading to the development of a kind of ‘‘Internet common law’’. …

The Personal Information Protection And Electronic Documents Act: A Comprehensive Guide By William Charnetski, Patrick Flaherty And Jeremy Robinson (Toronto Canada Law Book Inc., 2001), Teresa Scassa

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act: A Comprehensive Guide (the Guide) is the second book to be published in English in Canada dealing expressly with the Personal Information Protec- tion and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The Guide is different from the earlier work, in that it is not a section by section discussion or annotation of the provisions of PIPEDA. Rather, it is organized into eight chapters, each addressing a distinct theme or topic. The Guide is also aimed at a more professional audience than the earlier work. In its introduction, and in its choice of content, it …

Protecting Intellectual Capital In The New Century: Are Universities Prepared?, James Ottavio Castagnera, Cory R. Fine, Anthony Belfiore

Duke Law & Technology Review

In recent years, intellectual property has become increasingly important to academic institutions throughout the United States. As universities rely more heavily on trademarks and patents for additional revenue, questions arise as to whether these institutions are sufficiently protected by their current intellectual property policies. This iBrief explores the policies promulgated by a variety of academic institutions and assesses whether these universities are adequately protected by their policies.

The Enola Bean Patent Controversy: Biopiracy, Novelty And Fish-And-Chips, Gillian N. Rattray

Duke Law & Technology Review

Should traditional knowledge be patentable? As the number of patents filed by large corporations for native crops has increased, activists have become concerned about the economic effects of these patents on indigenous people. This iBrief discusses the attempts by one group of activists to test the validity of such patents in the United States and explores the issue of biopiracy in the Third World.

Reach-Through Claims In The Age Of Biotechnology , Stephen G. Kunin, Mark Nagumo, Brian Stanton, Linda S. Therkorn, Stephen Walsh

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Some Things Cannot Be Legislated, Robert M. Sherwood

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article argues that international intellectual property (IP) laws have limited effectiveness in developing countries without local support and robust institutional frameworks. It emphasizes that developing nations must recognize the role of IP in fostering economic growth and that judicial systems are critical in enforcing IP rights effectively.

Le Droit De Faire Jouer La Radio En Public, Ou La Petite Histoire D'Une Drôle D'Exemption, René Pépin

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

L’article 69 de la loi canadienne sur le droit d’auteur prévoit qu’aucun montant n’est exigible d’une personne qui utilise en public un appareil radio, pourvu que ce soit fait dans un endroit, tel un commerce ou un restaurant, où le public est invité à se rendre sans qu’il lui soit chargé un prix d’entrée. Plusieurs pays ont une disposition semblable dans leur législation en matière de droit d’auteur. Cela évite que les détenteurs de droits d’auteur sur des pièces musicales, ou les compagnies de disques, prétendent que le propriétaire de l’appareil radio se trouve à «représenter publiquement» ou à «exécuter …

Litoral: A New Form Of Defamation Consciousness, Kim Von Arx

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

With the Internet, quickly becoming ubiquitous, the question arises: how does the Internet, and more specifi- cally computer-mediated-communication (CMC), affect people’s lives?

This paper will explore CMC in the Western world as an instance of Walter J. Ong’s notion of secondary orality. It will seek to determine whether the proposed shift in communicative and social consciousness elimi- nates the need for the common law distinction between libel and slander in the online communication environ- ment. The paper is divided into three parts. In the first section, the elements of primary orality and the shift of consciousness from a primary oral …

Don't Shoot The Messenger! A Discussion Of Isp Liability, Andrew Bernstein, Rima Ramchandani

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In today’s world of rampant networked communica- tion, the Internet Service Provider (‘‘ISP’’) finds itself in a uniquely vulnerable position. As the conduit through which content is disseminated to a numerically and geo- graphically vast audience, the obvious legal risk to ISPs is that those who provide content will do so in a way that attracts legal liability. Like many communications prov- iders (such as publishers or broadcasters), the ISP may have to assume some responsibility for simply providing the means of transmitting content. In some cases, the ISP is more actively involved in the transmission or is know- ingly …

Solving Legal Issues In Electronic Government: Authority And Authentication, John D. Gregory

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article is an overview of some of the legal themes and issues faced by governments in the electronic age, with particular regard to their own operations: electronic service delivery and the administration of government itself.

Electronic government is the performance of any function of government using electronic records and electronic communications. It may involve, in the language of the Uniform Electronic Commerce Act, ‘‘us[ing] electronic means to create, collect, receive, store, transfer, distribute, publish or otherwise deal with documents or information.’’ The term thus covers the provision of governmental services to the public, including commu- nication from the public …

Collective Management Of Copyright And Neighbouring Rights In Canada: An International Perspective, Daniel J. Gervais

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In this paper, we will compare the current Canadian framework and activities of Collective Management Organizations with the situation in a number of other major countries and suggest possible improvements to the current regime. The comparison will focus first on the general legal background for collective management and, second, on issues specific to the digital age. The paper only addresses some of the specific issues raised by the 1996 WCT and WPPT.

Book Review: Privacy Law In Canada By Colin H.H. Mcnairn And Alexander K. Scott, Anne Mussett

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Privacy Law in Canada is a 360-page work that broadly covers legislation at both the federal and provin- cial level, and criminal and civil liability for privacy intru- sions in the context of case law from across Canada. Particular focus is given to privacy issues associated with the workplace, personal health information, technolog- ical surveillance, and protecting consumers and debtors. The authors take a practical approach in examining chal- lenging questions, such as whether a consumer’s consent is required to obtain a credit report; disclosure of med- ical information; monitoring an employee’s computer use and voice mail; how the PIPEDA …

Transcript For Welcome Address , Andrew Pike

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.