2012 Grafstein Lecture: ”Books, Libraries & The Digital Future”

This year’s 2012 Grafstein Lecture in Communications was delivered last week by Robert Darnton, the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and University Librarian at Harvard University. His lecture, titled ”Books, Libraries & The Digital Future” discussed the digitalization and commercialization of public knowledge. He promotes the creation of a Digital Public Library, which will make the collections of research libraries available free of charge.

The webcast of Prof Darnton’s lecture can be found here.

TIP Conference Day 4: Justice Roger Hughes of the Federal Court

- by Mohamed Hashim

Justice Hughes offered a rare glimpse into the world of patent litigation from the judicial perspective. Titled “A View From The Bench” he spoke of the patent system and what it takes to be successful in the world of patent litigation. To start, he quipped that it takes 4 things to succeed: A good lawyer, good law, good facts and good luck!

The often funny Justice Hughes then went on to talk briefly about the Federal Court and how it deals with patent litigation. He noted that the court has about 6-8 judges that typically handle the patent caseload. He compared this approach to other jurisdictions that have specialized patent courts, and said that our Canadian judges are among the best.

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TIP Conference Day 2: Non-Practising Entities

- with Rachel Weiner

The second day of the TIP Conference focused on the controversial and sexy (for patent law) topic of non-practising entities. The public has a tendency to label non-practising entities as patent trolls, and with that label comes a whole consortium of negative connotations. What is a patent troll? The image that appears in most people’s minds is a person who acquires many, many patents and sits in wait, under the bridge, ready to unfairly pounce on anyone who attempts to cross. Read the rest of this entry »

The Phone Book in Your Pocket

In an age where the phone book has nigh become obsolete, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has used it to analogize the federal government’s proposed lawful access legislation. His analogy was a response to serious privacy concerns over the proposed legislation, raised by the likes of Privacy Commissioners at both the federal and provincial levels. Lisa Austin, associate law professor at the University of Toronto, has responded in kind with an op-ed piece in the Globe and Mail. She looks at how this legislation will expand the government’s ability to get access to private internet data without judicial oversight. Are the privacy issues with our telephone usage really the same as the privacy issues with our internet use? Read Prof Austin’s article here.

2011 Cloud Computing Conference Live Webcast

Watch the live webcast of the Fall 2011 Cloud Computing Conference: Law and Policy Issues in the Cloud here. The Conference begins at 9:00 am Friday, October 14, and ends at 5:00 pm the same day.

Target Misses the Mark for Interlocutory Injunction: Target Brands Inc. v Fairweather Ltd.

In the newest development in the ongoing trademarks case between Target and Fairweather, Target sought to restrain Fairweather from operating stores in association with the “TARGET” trademark/trade name or a bullseye logo so as to cause confusion with Target’s own business until the trial date late 2012. But Target failed the interlocutory injunction test according to the Federal Court, and the motion was dismissed. Read the rest of this entry »

Google-Motorola Deal: the Patent Portfolio Factor

So we’ve all heard how Google recently bought Motorola for a hefty $12.5 billion on Monday. Aside from the synergies Google gains from end-to-end control, as Google now has hardware, software and service arms to create their mobile products, perhaps just as importantly, Google has also purchased one of the largest patent portfolios of its kind in the mobile industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Domain Name as Personal Property: Tucows.Com Co. v Lojas Renner S.A.

In a landmark decision made last week in Tucows.Com Co. v. Lojas Renner S.A., the Ontario Court of Appeal found that internet domain names qualify as personal property. The dispute was over (Canadian company) Tucow’s right to keep the domain name <renner.com> in the face of (Brazilian company) Renner’s registered trademark “Renner”. The court held for Tucows, deciding that it could bring a claim in Ontario for declaratory relief against Renner on the grounds that a domain name registered to Tucows constituted intangible personal property. Read the rest of this entry »

Crowdsourcing Justice in the London Riots

Following Vancouver’s example in June, social media has once again been enlisted to help identify the rioters and looters of London’s riots last week. Scotland Yard has posted stills from surveillance cameras on their Flickr account, asking for help in identifying suspects. And independent “name-and-shame” sites have also cropped up, including one Tumblr site called “Catch a Looter”. A twist in London’s case, however, is the potential use of face recognition technology, a tool the Vancouver Police Department declined to use in their investigations.  Read the rest of this entry »

Patent Troll Lawyer’s Turn to Pay-Up

We have all heard stories of abusive or extortion-like practices by patent trolls and how they can strike fear in the hearts of independent, start-up companies. But in a refreshing twist, Techdirt recently posted a story about how a patent troll’s lawyer was sanctioned by the Court. In Eon-Net v. Flagstar Bancorp, not only did the U.S.’ Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit hold for the alleged patent infringer, they also approved of over $600,000 in sanctions again Eon-Net’s lawyer for filing a spurious lawsuit. Read the rest of this entry »