IP Osgoode is an independent voice that explores legal governance issues at the intersection of intellectual property (IP) and technology. The program’s researchers, collaborators, and students actively engage in some of the most important and cutting-edge IP law and technology related research and policy discussions of today.
Commentary and analysis on the latest developments in intellectual property, technology and privacy, featuring curated contributions from students, scholars, and experts within the Osgoode community.
On February 6th, 2008, the Ohio Supreme Court in Al Minor & Assoc. v. Martin,[1] held that memorized information can fall within the scope of trade secrets in accordance to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA). The court’s desire to discard the written-memorized information distinction was principally to align the UTSA with like acts from […]
A U.S. appellate court recently held in Jacobsen v. Katzer that copyright holders who dedicate their work for free public use are entitled to enforce an open-source copyright license to restrict the work's future distribution and modification. The Court ruled that open-source licenses are enforceable under copyright law, not merely under contract law, thereby providing […]
This is a time of significant innovation in the realm of business to reduce inefficiencies and capture potential market gains. Despite the significant barriers that currently exist, innovators should be able to protect these new and useful innovations through patents. Firstly, according to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO), business methods are prohibited from patentability: […]
One of the comments I received on my last privacy post from Reshika Dhir rhetorically questioned whether users of cloud computing applications had a choice in not using these services to reduce their privacy risks. I agree with Reshika that many individuals in first-world countries have come to the point of technology dependence. To add […]
Andrew Knight, a US novelist and a patent agent, was the first to apply for a patent on the unique plot of his novel. Although the US patent office rejected Knight’s application, the author intends to appeal to the Federal Circuit. Knight espouses that patent protection is crucial because copyrights are not enough to keep […]
A Kentucky Judge has upheld his earlier order allowing the Commonwealth of Kentucky to seize 141 gambling related domain names because they allow residents of Kentucky to access gambling sites. The State argued that each of the domain names fell within the meaning of a “gambling device” under state law KRS 528.010(4) and were thus […]
Editor in Chief: Prof. Carys Craig (ccraig@osgoode.yorku.ca)
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