Blog, Featured, Other, Uncategorized

Ten years ago I landed in Toronto with my wife and an 11 months old son. I left my job as a staff lawyer at the Israeli Antitrust Authority and arrived to Toronto to become a student again at UofT’s Faculty of Law. A couple of days later I had a meeting with Prof. Brian Langille: now my colleague, then the Associate Dean, Graduate Student. The meeting was part of a routine procedure for all incoming graduate students, but nonetheless, it was a sign for a great start. Not that I had never had meetings with professors in my earlier …

Toronto: The First Decade Read more →

Blog, Other, Uncategorized

Let it be known that I have very negative attitude towards Ipsos Reid. A couple of days ago my phone office rang.  The speaker presented herself as a poller from Ipsos Reid, interested in conducting a survey about the public attitude towards companies.  I politely declined.  First I said that I was very busy.  She asked me if there was another time when it’d be more convenient to talk to me and I said that I actually wasn’t interested in participating at all. A few hours later the phone rang again, same introduction only asking to speak to one of …

I have very negative attitude towards Ipsos Reid Read more →

Antitrust / Competition Law, Blog, Copyright, Featured, My Research

Paul-Erik Veel and I have (finally) posted our new paper on SSRN.  The paper, downloadable here, is called “Beyond Refusal to Deal: A Cross-Atlantic View of Copyright, Competition and Innovation Policies”.  Here’s the abstract: Conventional wisdom holds that the European Union, through the application of its competition law, has opted to subordinate intellectual property rights in the pursuit of competitive markets to a much greater extent than has the United States. We argue that, at least in the context of copyright protection, this conventional wisdom is false. While European antitrust regulation of IPRs does presently seem much more robust and activist …

New paper: Beyond Refusal to Deal: A Cross-Atlantic View of Copyright, Competition and Innovation Policies Read more →

Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

On Tuesday, I submitted my Reply to Access Copyright’s (AC) submission regarding the AUCC Application to compel AC to grant transactional licenses.  In my previous submission I pointed out that while the AUCC correctly diagnosed some of the problems, it asked to Board to prescribe the wrong remedy.  I also explained why the conduct that the AUCC complained about might run afoul the Competition Act.   AC responded on July 8.  Basically, AC’s response boiled down to four themes: “I didn’t do it”: flatly denying any wrongdoing without providing any evidence or theory to refute the evidence-based allegations made against it; …

My Reply to Access Copyright’s Submission about Transactional Licenses Read more →

Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

I have submitted my response to the application filed by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) to amend the Access Copyright Interim Tariff. The AUCC’s Application draws a dim picture of monopolistic excess, abuse, and inequitable conduct.  It confirms that many of the concerns raised in the course of Access Copyright’s Application to grant the Interim Tariff have materialized.  The Board should intervene to rectify this problem. Unfortunately, while the AUCC correctly diagnosed some of the problems, it asks to Board to prescribe the wrong remedy.  I am not persuaded that amending the Interim Tariff to require …

The AUCC Diagnoses the Problem but Prescribes the Wrong Remedy Read more →

Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

The Copyright Board granted my request to extend the deadline for responding to the AUCC’s Application to amend the interim tariff.  No word yet on my second request to invite the Commissioner of Competition to intervene.  Here’s the Board’s decision: NOTICE OF THE BOARD Mr. Katz’s request of June 15, 2011 to extend the time for responding to the AUCC application regarding transactional licences is granted. Accordingly, today’s deadline to reply to AUCC’s application is extended in the following way: Objectors’ response on the AUCC’s application: by no later than Monday, June 27, 2011. ACCC will be allowed to add to …

Copyright Board Grants Extension Read more →

Blog, Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

Last week, the AUCC requested the Copyright Board to amend the Interim Tariff and order Access Copyright to grant transactional licenses (see Howard Knopf’s posts for more details, here and here).  The Board ordered all parties to respond by tomorrow. Earlier today I submitted two applications regarding this matter.  I asked the Board to provide more time to respond to the AUCC application.  I also asked the Board to request the Commissioner of Competition to intervene in this case. Here’s what I wrote to the Board:

Blog, Copyright, Featured

I have posted a new paper on SSRN.  The paper is based on a presentation that I gave at the Exhaustion and First Sale in IP Conference held at Santa Clara Law School last November.  Here’s the abstract: The first sale doctrine (or exhaustion) limits the exclusive rights that survive the initial authorized sale of an item protected by such rights.  The first sale doctrine has always been under pressure by owners of intellectual property rights, and courts have never been able to precisely outline its contours, or fully articulate its rationale. Recently, and somewhat counter-intuitively, insights borrowed from modern …

The First Sale Doctrine: What Antitrust Law Can (and Cannot) Teach Read more →

Copyright, Copyright Collectives, Featured

The Conservative Party of Canada decided to turn a copyright controversy into an election issue. Last week it launched the ipodtax.ca website, slamming the opposition parties’ support of extending the private copying levy to devices such as iPods. The Tories’ claim is not factually accurate, as the Liberals currently oppose such expansion of the levy, and the main point of the campaign does not seem to be genuine concern about copyright. Rather, the issue is mainly an excuse/opportunity for promoting fear about general tax increases (“It’s just the beginning of the Coalition’s high tax agenda”), however, since I’m not a …

The iPod Tax, the iTunes Tax and the Notepad Tax Read more →