February ← 2011 ← Innovation Law Blog

Roanie Levy discusses problems with C-32

Feb

2011

The week-long, student organized TIP Group Conference on Copyright Reform kicked off today with a talk by Roanie Levy of Access Copyright on the subject of Online Learning and Related Exceptions to Infringement for Educational and Research Institutions.

Google changes search rankings to combat content farms

Kathryn May

Feb

2011

As outlined in this article, Google has changed the way its search results are ranked, in order to reduce the rankings of “content farms”, websites that simply copy content from other websites. The introduction of this change has begun in the U.S., and will continue around the world. The change has been made in response ...

TIP Conference update: events and speakers

Susan Deefholts

Feb

2011

The lineup for the TIP Conference next week has been finalized. It looks to be a fascinating series of events, taking place over the consecutive lunch breaks from Monday, February 28th to Thursday, March 4th. The talks will begin at 12:30 and will run until 2:00, at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law. With ...

Trade negotiations with EU poised to increase drug costs in Canada 1

Kathryn May

Feb

2011

As explained in this article by the CBC, a recent study, commissioned by the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA), has found that proposed changes to Canada’s drug patent system suggested by the European Union as part of trade negotiations would add billions of dollars per year to Canada’s prescription drug plan.

GOP v. FCC on Net Neutrality

Giselle Chin

Feb

2011

Republicans from both Congress houses are following through on their vow to fight the newly minted FCC Net Neutrality rules by issuing a joint resolution of disapproval. The resolution, and the repeal efforts, are spearheaded by Republican House members, Greg Walden and Fred Upton, along with Republican Senators Mitch McConnell and Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Publishers and pirates: an editorial

Susan Deefholts

Feb

2011

In anticipation of the upcoming TIP group conference on copyright reform, it seems worthwhile to look at some of the complexities and nuances of copyright and the challenges it poses, situated within the context of the larger debate. What is ostensibly one of the core issues in copyright can be found in what has been ...

Koch Industries sues parody website over hacking, trademark abuse

Catherine Marchant

Feb

2011

In December, a website purporting to belong to Koch Industries, known for their skepticism of global warming, wrote a fake news release announcing “new environmental commitments. Koch Industries is now suing those responsible for the site, members of a group called Youth for Climate Truth, for damages, alleging hacking, trademark abuse and cybersquatting. The lawyer ...

Copyright reform roundup

Susan Deefholts

Feb

2011

In a little under two weeks from today, the Technology and Intellectual Property group at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law will be hosting a week-long conference on copyright reform. Given that, it seems particularly apropos to review some of our own past coverage on the subject, as well as highlighting some of the ...

Google accuses Microsoft search engine “Bing” of using Google’s search results

Pravin Thomas

Feb

2011

Earlier this month, news outlets reported an experiment by Google confirming Google’s suspicions that Microsoft search engine Bing was using Google’s search results without Google’s permission. Google engineered results to search queries in its engine and watched as Bing reproduced the same results providing evidence that Bing was borrowing Google search results. Microsoft denied Bing ...

MPEG-LA preparing patent attack on Google’s WebM

Billy Barnes

Feb

2011

MPEG-LA, the patent collective that licenses the popular h.264 video codec, has issued a call for patents that may underlie Google’s competing WebM codec. Google released the codec license-free shortly after acquiring it last year. However, it is widely expected that Google may not have acquired all relevant patent licenses. MPEG-LA says that it hopes ...