Category: Copyright Collectives

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The New York Times yesterday published an excellent op-ed, by Chief Judge Randall Rader and Professors Colleen Chien and David Hirick on the issue of patent trolls. It follows an announcement by President Obama regarding measures against patent trolls made the day before. The authors explain that the problem of patent trolls stems largely from the fact that in the current legal system “trolls have an important strategic advantage over their adversaries: they don’t make anything.” Therefore, “they need not fear a counterclaim for infringing some other patent. They need not be concerned with reputation in the marketplace or with their employees …

It’s Only a Northern Troll Read more »

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To opt out or not to opt out? This is the question that UofT and Western are currently facing, as the initial term of their license agreements with Access Copyright is about to end, but will be renewed automatically unless they choose to terminate by the end of the next month. The question may not be as existential as Prince Hamlet’s, but like the him, the universities will have to decide whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Agreement, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? 

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Michael Geist sez: “I am delighted to report that this week the University of Ottawa Press published The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law, an effort by many of Canada’s leading copyright scholars to begin the process of examining the long-term implications of the copyright pentalogy. The book is available for purchase and is also available as a free download under a Creative Commons licence. The book can be downloaded in its entirety or each of the 14 chapters can be downloaded individually. This is the first of a new collection from the UOP on law, technology and society …

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By Posted on Posted in Antitrust / Competition Law, Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Stationers No Comments

Locke and I: Part 3 Continued from Locke and I: Part 2   “[A]s all things that are good in this act, the Company of Stationers minding nothing in it but what makes for their monopoly.” John Locke (1693) When I called John Locke the following day he was much more cheerful than he was in our previous conversations. “Good morning Ariel, I’m so glad you called back,” he said when he answered the phone. “Your explanations about Access Copyright’s latest moves allow me to start making sense of it. But you still have to explain to me what you meant …

The Company of Stationers Minding Nothing But What Makes for Their Monopoly Read more »

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Locke and I: Part 2 Continued from Locke and I: Part 1 [T]he Company of Stationers have obtained from the Crown a patent to print all, or at least the greatest part, of the classic authors, upon pretence, as I hear, that they should be well and truly printed. … but by this act scholars are subjected to the power of these dull wretches, … unless they pay them 6s. 8d. a book for that leave. John Locke (1693) Locke did not wait until the next day. A couple of hours after our previous conversation–I was still in my office–he called …

Scholars are Subjected to the Power of These Dull Wretches Read more »