intellectual property Archives

Geist
TPP

Grasping at straws: the trouble with “The Trouble with the TPP”, a further reply to Michael Geist

I recently had the privilege of speaking about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) at the Fordham 24^th Annual Intellectual Property Law and Policy Conference, a stellar international IP conference. The other speakers on my panel were Probir Mehta (lead U.S. negotiator of the IP portion of the TPP), Pedro Velasco Martins (lead EU negotiator of the IP portion of the TTIP), and Daren Tang (lead Singapore negotiator of the IP portion of the TPP). The title of the panel was “Examination of TPP & TTIP”.…

View Post

CD Howe rejects IP criticisms of TPP and CETA

The C.D. Howe Institute released a report earlier today, National Priorities 2016: At the Global Crossroads: Canada’s Trade Priorities for 2016, authored by Daniel Schwanen. One of the key recommendations is to boost market access for Canadian producers by ratifying the CETA and the TPP.

The report also touches briefly on two key intellectual property issues associated with the treaties, pharmaceutical patents and copyright. On these issues, the report stated the following:

Patents seek to encourage innovation by providing firms or individuals a monopoly over new and useful products for a limited period of time before competitors are allowed to offer their own versions.

…

View Post

Intellectual property and the TPP: my Bloomberg TV interview

I was interviewed by Bloomberg TV yesterday on the topic of fears expressed over the intellectual property portions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. My interview on the TPP can be accessed below. For more detail, you can see my ope-ed in the Financial Post Why Canada has nothing to fear over TPP and Intellectual Property and my more detailed analysis of the IP and e-commerce provisions here.

…

View Post

Why Canada has nothing to fear over TPP and Intellectual Property – my op-ed in the FP

This is a copy of my op-ed published in the Financial Post. As the article notes, the views expressed are further elaborated on my blog. See, TPP and trade secrets: a wonderful idea and TPP, copyright, e-commerce and digital policy: a reply to Michael Geist.

The intellectual property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been misunderstood and attacked by several commentators, and the public is understandably confused. Much has been misinterpreted by those who oppose the TPP, or at least its intellectual property (IP) provisions.…

View Post

intellectual property

IP and the digital economy in the Federal Budget

The Minister of Finance tabled the Government of Canada’s budget earlier today. Titled, The Road to Balance: Creating Jobs and Opportunities, the budget contained a few proposed plans related to intellectual property and the digital economy.

The Economic Action Plan proposes to modernize Canada’s intellectual property framework “to better align it with international practices.” These plans which had previoulsy been announced were described as follows:

Canada’s existing framework for protecting intellectual property is not aligned with international practices, creating unnecessary costs for our innovative businesses.

…

View Post

U.S. Federal Circuit Bar Association IP conference coming to Toronto

The U.S. Federal Circuit Bar Association is holding an IP conference in Toronto on September 17, 2013. The conference title is Trade, Intellectual Property and Recovering Economies: A Search for Best Practices.

This unique event, sponsored by the Federal Circuit Bar Association (FCBA), has a fabulous program that includes the following topics:

Innovation
Patent, Internet and Copyright Litigation
International Trade
Views from the Courts and the Patent Offices

Some key speakers include the following:

Chief Judge Randall R. Rader – United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Justice Judith Snider – Federal Court of Canada
Judge Charles Bullock – Chief Administrative Law Judge, United States International Trade Commission
Judge Timothy C.

…

View Post

Intellectual Property Law in Canada: Cases and Commentary

I am pleased to announce the publication of the second edition of my IP casebook Intellectual Property Law in Canada: Cases and Commentary.

Written in collaboration with my partners Steven Mason and Dan Glover, this book will be of particular interest to private practitioners, in-house lawyers, law students, law professors and librarians. It includes selections from important cases in intellectual property law including very recent cases from the Supreme Court of Canada and other appellant courts to provide the most up to date and instructive set of materials on IP law in Canada.…

View Post

best blogs

Most popular intellectual property and technology law blogs

One of the best ways to stay on top of IP/Tech legal developments is by subscribing to blogs. In the IP/Tech field, there are many very good ones to choose from. Justia’s BlawgSearch lists and ranks many of them. I subscribe to over 90. Over the holidays, and with the help of McCarthy Tetrault articling student Addison Cameron-Huff, I ranked them by popularity.

There is no perfect tool for conducting this type of evaluation. I relied on RSS subscriber counts using the RSS subscriber base of Google Reader, iGoogle and Google Desktop as a proxy.…

View Post

Social media, intellectual property and the workplace, is there a gap in the law?

I gave a speech earlier today at the Law Society Special Lectures on Employment Law and the New Workplace in the Social Media Age. My talk was entitled, “Is There a Gap in Intellectual Property Law?” My slides are shown below.

Sookman law society IP in social media

View more presentations from bsookman

…

View Post

Developments in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law (2010-2011)

Here are the slides used in my presentation to the Toronto Computer Lawyers Group earlier today, The Year in Review: Developments in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law (2010-2011). It covers significant developements since my talk last spring.

The slides include a summary of the following cases and statutory materials:

Privacy:

Cite Cards Canada Inc. v. Pleasance, 2011 ONCA 3

Leon’s Furniture Limited v. Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2011 ABCA 94

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 2010 FC 736

Nammo v.…

View Post

Subscribe