SCC Judgement: Hyperlinking to Content Does Not Constitute Republication

Last Wednesday (October 19th, 2011), the Supreme Court of Canada released its judgement on Crookes v. Newton (2011 SCC 47). The case focused on whether or not liability existed when one post hyperlinks to allegedly defamatory material on the internet. The court’s decision was succinctly summarized by Justice Abella, who stated, “I would conclude that a hyperlink, by itself, should never be seen as “publication” of the content to which it refers.”  Read the rest of this entry »

LawTech Camp a success

On Saturday, June 18, 2011 the University of Toronto Faculty of law was host to an innovatively structured gathering featuring a series of sessions and discussions on issues relating to law and technology. Based on the idea of BarCamp–user generated gatherings, or “unconferences”–the sessions arose from the suggestions and proposed discussion topics put forward by the participants and attendees at the sessions.

Sponsored by CILP, lawyerlocate.ca, SapnaLaw, Mitchell E. Kowalski and My Legal Briefcase, lawTechcamp featured sessions that dealt with a range of issues, from questions around social media in the courts, privacy issues in the context of corporations and PIPEDA, free access to law through organizations such as CanLII, and the strengths and challenges that arise from cloud computing structures, the topics were diverse and the resulting discussions were at times lively. Read the rest of this entry »

The War Between Old Media Empires and the Internet

It is now clear that the true enemy of traditional media, still unbloodied, is the Internet itself. The remarkable ability of digital technology to reduce the transaction costs of information exchanges of all kinds has destroyed the business models, if not the businesses, on which content providers have operated successfully since at least the 18th century. That’s when the first copyright law was passed in England.

The focus on “media” in the very name of the industry belies its reliance on the limited life of physical copies as the key control mechanism. But as physical copies are replaced by faster, better, and cheaper digital alternatives, control becomes more illusory. The entrenched providers are growing desperate.

- Larry Downes, in his recent, and somewhat lengthy, column Leahy’s Protect IP Act: Why Internet content wars will never end Read the rest of this entry »

Super-injunctions: Twitter Sued by Footballer (UK)

In what may be the first lawsuit against the microblogging site, an English footballer is suing Twitter and its users after a/some Tweeter(s) purported to reveal the name of a player who allegedly had an affair with a model. The lawsuit lists the defendants as “Twitter Inc and persons unknown” according to reports. It seems like we finally have an answer to how Twitter gags could potentially be enforced. Sort of. Read the rest of this entry »

Winklevoss Brothers’ Denied Bid to Reopen Facebook Case

As recently made famous on the silver screen, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss’ legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg seems to be coming to an end.  The initial cash and stock settlement, valued at $65 million (US), was claimed to be unfair by the twins because Facebook hid its true value from them at the time.  However, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused to change the decision recently in April and yesterday rejected the twins’ request to have an 11-judge panel review its earlier ruling. The court did not provide a reason.

Twitter Ban on Election Night

There’s no denying that social media has changed the face and flow of information.  On Election night, that unstoppable flow clashed with Canadian law as Twitter users breached Election Canada’s ban on early transmission of polling results. Tweeters began twittering election information before polls closed on the West Coast. Read the rest of this entry »

Roanie Levy discusses problems with C-32

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Copyright reform roundup

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 important voices in Canadian copyright and copyright reform. Read the rest of this entry »

Supreme Court of Canada Will Lead Technology Law in 2011

In an interesting piece in today’s Toronto Star, Michael Geist asserts that the Supreme Court of Canada will be the main source of action in Canadian technology law in 2011. This is partially because of the possibility of an election, in which case a number of current bills, on subjects including privacy, copyright and lawful access, will likely die. However, the Court also has a particularly large number of technology cases on its docket this year, which have the potential to have major effects on current Canadian law.

Read the rest of this entry »

YouTube wins in Spanish copyright case

A Spanish federal court ruled in YouTube’s favor on Thursday, which YouTube’s owner, Google, lauded as a “clear victory for the internet and the rules that govern it.” The court dismissed the action by the Spanish broadcaster Telecino, which claimed that YouTube should be held liable when its users upload content that violates the broadcaster’s intellectual property rights. Agreeing with YouTube’s argument that the volume of content posted by users makes it impossible to screen every video, the court referred to the mechanisms already in place to encourage content owners to report violations to the site. This landmark case is the first of its kind in Europe involving YouTube.