Recent Articles

Public Domain Day 2009

Howard Knopf
January 02, 2009 05:17

The ever redoubtable and incorrigibly public-domain-loving Wallace McLean has once again augmented the database of copyright expired luminaries ranging this year from my fav Robert W. Service of the Class of 1958 (a Brit so it seems, though we think of him as Canadian) to American cartoonist E. C....

The Thawing Out of Robert W. Service

Howard Knopf
January 01, 2009 18:53

On the stroke of midnight tonight, it will be legal in Canada to reproduce the rest of this iconic poetic tale by Robert W. Service, (January 16, 1874 – September 11, 1958): There are strange things done in the midnight sun, By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret t...

RIAA Abandons Mass Litigation? - The Good and the Bad News

Howard Knopf
December 23, 2008 16:33

There’s a story today in the Wall Street Journal that the RIAA is about to “abandon” its mass litigation campaign that has so far scored, scared, and/or scarred some 35,000 individual victims (technically described more accurately as “defendants”) to date. According to the article, "The RIAA said it...

Les Miserables - Free At Last

Howard Knopf
December 20, 2008 03:52

It's good to learn that moral rights have expired in France in Hugo's Les Miserables - a mere 123 years after his death. A French Court has so declared, after a suit by some heirs concerning sequels for about $1 million and an injunction At the risk of telling tales out of school, it was a hard...

More Copyright Consultations in UK...

Howard Knopf
December 17, 2008 02:49

(Tod Baker, CC License) (Little Tufty, one of the IPKat bloggers, is keeping an eye on one of the entertainment industry lobbyists who is making a point about exceptions and limitations) One of the best IP blogs anywhere, the IPKat out of England, is having a small hissy fit about the latest UK...

Gowers on UK Term Extension Capitulation

Howard Knopf
December 15, 2008 22:24

Mr. Gowers is not impressed by the British Government's capitulation to the record industry on term extension for sound recordings: Politicians often do and say silly things when they come into contact with celebrities.So it was last Thursday when a star-struck Andy Burnham, Britain’s secretary of s...

Google and Lessig on Net Neutrality

Howard Knopf
December 15, 2008 21:43

Is Google changing its tune on net neutrality? The Wall Stree Journals seems to be so so suggesting in a widely linked and discussed artcicle: Here's a taste...According to WSJ: Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast...

Congrats to Paul Schaeffer, C.M.

Howard Knopf
December 15, 2008 18:32

This great Canadian performer has just been awarded the Order of Canada and has now been the band leader on the David Letterman Show since 1975 - the year I started law school. Hard to believe how time flies. Mazel Tov, Maestro Schaeffer! Still hip, still cool, still great! Keep it up... HK

Trademark Info Corp - Don't Pay These People

Howard Knopf
December 13, 2008 20:54

An organization named Trademark Info Corp is sending out a document to Canadian registered trade-mark owners offering "publication of protected trade-marks on the internet" for the fee of CDN $1330. The website of this organization is here. At first glance, this document looks like an...

Parody Defence Not Available according to BC Court

Howard Knopf
December 13, 2008 20:51

The Tyee reports on a copyright case involving alleged infringement of a Canwest newspaper in which the defendant pleaded that the material was a "parody." This defense was struck out at a very early stage by a BC Supreme Court Master in this ruling that parody was not available as a "fair use"...