Giselle Chin ← Innovation Law Blog ← Page 3

Canada’s Telecom Policy Quadruple Play 101 5

Jul

2011

TekSavvy CEO Marc Gaudrault recently wrote an op-ed piece for the Financial Post, encouraging Canadians to stay on top of current, major telecom developments, as it so passionately did in its fight against UBB, because the outcome of these issues will have tangible and far-reaching effects on all Canadian telecom consumers. The best part of the piece, is ...

Miami Judge Rules Hotfile Site not Direct Copyright Infringer

Giselle Chin

Jul

2011

Miami federal judge, Adalberto Jordan, has dismissed direct copyright infringement allegations against Hotfile.com, a popular “cyber-locker” service that allows users to upload and share files. In the 9-page decision, while the judge has dismissed Hotfile’s direct liability charge, he is allowing the case to proceed on secondary liability charges, that Hotfile has induced and profited from ...

CRTC’s Net Neutrality Regulation: Superficial

Giselle Chin

Jul

2011

Enforcement has always been the bane of any regulatory agency’s existence. Regulation without teeth hardly merits real attention, or compliance, from those being regulated. In documents released on Friday, Professor Geist of the University of Ottawa, has found the CRTC’s well-publicised Telecom Regulatory Policy (2009), policy which is supposed to regulate net neutrality in Canada, ...

America: ISPs’ Newest Effort in Fighting Piracy

Giselle Chin

Jul

2011

Leading ISPs in America, like Comcast and Verizon, have made a voluntary deal with movie studios and record labels to begin monitoring ISP accounts for possible piracy. Called the “Copyright Alert System“, consumers would be subject to a series of alerts if they are suspected of illegal downloading, with each subsequent alert increasingly threatening in ...

Microsoft’s Censorship Search Deal with China

Giselle Chin

Jul

2011

On the day America celebrated its independence, Microsoft announced its growing presence in the Chinese market for online searches with a deal with Baidu, China’s leading search engine: Microsoft will supply search results for English-language queries on the Chinese search provider. More controversially, Microsoft will also censor its search results according to local law.

Recording Industry to SCC: Scale Back Fair Dealing

Giselle Chin

Jul

2011

In a factum submitted last week, the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) is arguing that the Supreme Court of Canada should substantially narrow the scope of Canada’s fair dealing standard, a standard established in the seminal CCH v. Law Society of Upper Canada decision in 2004. Last year, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a decision ...

Louis Vuitton and Burberry Knock-off Companies Fined $2.5million

Giselle Chin

Jun

2011

In a decision rendered this week, the conclusion of Louis Vuitton Malletier S.A. v. Singga Enterprises (Canada) Inc. saw three Canadian companies fined approximately $2.5 million for selling knock-off Louis Vuitton and Burberry handbags. Vancouver-based Singga Enterprises Inc. and Carnation Fashion Company, and Toronto-based Altec Productions were accused of “manufacturing, importing, distributing, selling and offering for sale Counterfeit ...

Lawful Access Concerns Gathering Steam

Giselle Chin

Jun

2011

The Conservative government first introduced “lawful access” legislation in three bills in late October and early November of last year. The bills’ aim was to amend the Criminal Code to give law enforcement authorities new investigative powers for computer-related crimes and to use new communications technologies for that purpose. With a Conservative majority in place, ...

Violent Video Games: Brown v. Entertainment Merchants

Giselle Chin

Jun

2011

Formerly titled Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants, the Supreme Court of the United States on Monday struck down a California law, first enacted in 2005, which banned the sale of violent video games to minors. The main issue in the case was whether this state law violated the First Amendment right to free speech. In a 2-7 holding, the ...

Chilling Effect of Vague “Fair” Use Doctrine in U.S. 2

Giselle Chin

Jun

2011

Andy Baio of Waxy.org produced an 8-Bit Tribute to Miles Davis‘ well-loved Kind of Blue album last year, making sure the entire project was legally honourable. In spite of his efforts, his project was still subject to a copyright claim, but surprisingly, over his cover art.