Website liability for copyright violations
Some companies are unsure whether they are violating copyright laws or not. Take the case of Garry Fung, discussed in a CTV story yesterday. His website, IsoHunt.com allows users to link to content such as videos and music. He is being sued in Canada and the U.S. because his website hosts content that can be downloaded […]
‘Corrective advertising’ damages
A post on ipblog.ca mentions a Florida case which imposed damages on a Canadian company for knowingly using a domain name that caused confusion with the business of a U.S. trademark holder. The Canadian company (using the same name as the American company) had a website which generated higher Google rankings than the website of its […]
U.S. business method patents may open the door for Canada
People are waiting to hear the outcome of a recent appeal case the U.S. involving business method patents. The hurdle that all patent applications for business methods must overcome is the requirement (in the U.S.) that the invention be related to a machine, or create or transform a piece of matter. For patents that don’t involve technology, this can […]
CIRA softens privacy policy
Last month, I talked about the new privacy policy being adopted by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). The policy, which was to have taken effect on June 10th, would have blocked efforts by trademark holders to directly contact individual domain name registrants who were violating their trademark rights. But CIRA has backed off on […]
New copyright bill
The federal government tabled extensive amendments to the Copyright Act yesterday. What’s good about the changes? If you’re copying things just once for non-commercial use, you’re probably going to be okay. But with one important caveat: you can’t use tools that bypass technological measures aimed at controlling access to a copyrighted work (or prevent it from being copied). Trying to get around […]
