Beyond Refusal to Deal: A Cross-Atlantic View of Copyright, Competition and Innovation Policies

Paul-Erik Veel and Professor Ariel Katz have recently released a paper comparing the Competition Law in the European Union and the United States. The abstract:

Conventional wisdom holds that the European Union, through the application of its competition law, has opted to subordinate intellectual property rights in the pursuit of competitive markets to a much greater extent than has the United States. We argue that, at least in the context of copyright protection, this conventional wisdom is false. Read the rest of this entry »

Peanuts and Ponies and Parodies! Oh My!

Generally and theoretically, ‘fair dealing’ in Canada, or ‘fair use’ in the U.S., is meant to foster creativity and innovation, to be a limitation and exception to the copyright holder’s exclusive rights. When it comes to applying fair dealing/use to parodies, however, the exception becomes murky.

A Tumblr blog, “Peanutweeter”, used to have thousands of people following their juxtaposition of classic “Peanuts” cartoons with unrelated, and less innocent, tweets. Unamused, Iconix Brand Group, joint copyright holders with the heirs of creator Charles Schulz, claimed copyright infringement, issued a takedown order and the blog was shut down in June. Read the rest of this entry »

Prof Geist’s FAQ on Opting-Out of Access Copyright

With many Canadian universities opting-out of the Access Copyright interim tariff, I have been receiving a growing number of questions and emails from faculty members at schools across the country inquiring about the implications of the opt-out. All universities should be updating their faculty and students on the copyright changes including why the changes are occurring and what they will mean for research and teaching.  - Professor Michael Geist Read the rest of this entry »

Universities Beginning to Turn to “Tech Savvy Course Alternatives”

If you have been following the Access Copyright issue in Canada, you will know that many Canadian universities have recently pulled out of the Access Copyright licensing scheme, turning instead, to what Prof Geist calls “a most flexible, tech savvy alternative” for course materials. Read the rest of this entry »

Entire Apple Store Knockoffs in China

Fake Louis Vuitton handbags, fake Thomas the Tank Engine toy trains and fake electronics have, in essence, become the norm in China. But the recent incident takes piracy to a whole new level: fake Apple stores in Kunming, a city in the southern Yunnan province.  Read the rest of this entry »

Miami Judge Rules Hotfile Site not Direct Copyright Infringer

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 the infringing activities of its users. Hotfile allows users to upload files they wish to share and provides financial rewards if their uploads prove popular.  Read the rest of this entry »

America: ISPs’ Newest Effort in Fighting Piracy

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 tone and consequence. Read the rest of this entry »

Recording Industry to SCC: Scale Back Fair Dealing

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 (SOCAN v. Bell Canada) by the Copyright Board that the provision of 30-second previews of songs, used by online music services, functions as consumer research and thus are eligible as fair dealing according to s.29 of the Copyright Act. In response to this, the CRIA is claiming here that the definition of “research” according to the Federal Court of Appeal, in the context of the fair dealing exception, is in error because that definition creates too broad and liberal of an exception, thereby conflicting with the object and purpose of the Act (to balance the interests between consumers and rights-holders). Read the rest of this entry »

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

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Prof Katz Requesting Competition Commission Intervention in Access Copyright Case

Earlier this year, Access Copyright (AC) won a Copyright Board decision that granted a new interim tariff for post-secondary education institutions. In response to AC’s quest for a 1,300% increase in its post-secondary tariff, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) filed a request on June 9, 2011 to the Copyright Board to amend the interim and order Access Copyright to grant transactional licenses. The Board ordered all parties to respond by today. Read the rest of this entry »