This is a career highlight, for sure. My friend (and client) Brendan (B. Rich) Richmond put out a music video a few years ago called “OUT FOR A RIP” that went viral – the video currently has more than 12 million views on Youtube. I registered a trademark for him for that phrase, covering online …
I am pleased to announce that I’ve moved into a new office space in a great little storefront on Bloor Street, just west of Dufferin. My new mailing address is: RKIP 1200 Bloor Street West Toronto, ON Canada M6H 1N2
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) introduced the world to the concept of utilitarianism. Utilitarian economists and philosophers measure the value of acts with reference to the net ‘good’ or ‘happiness’ that said acts create in the world. ‘Good’ or ‘happiness’ is often measured using monetary units as a metric, but while such units of measurement are convenient, their use is not essential to a utilitarian analysis. In measuring the value of a private property right, a utilitarian would compare the aggregate increase in ‘good’ to society resulting from the grant of that right with the aggregate ‘good’ which would result from the denial or revocation of that right. If the increase in good resulting from the grant is larger the good resulting from its denial or revocation, the property right would be justified from a utilitarian perspective…
There must be some coercive power to compel men equally to the performance of their covenants, by the terror of some punishment greater than the benefit they expect by the breach of their covenant, and to make good that propriety which by mutual contract men acquire in recompense of the universal right they abandon: and such power there is none before the erection of a Commonwealth. And this is also to be gathered out of the ordinary definition of justice in the Schools, for they say that justice is the constant will of giving to every man his own. And therefore where there is no own, that is, no propriety, there is no injustice; and where there is no coercive power erected, that is, where there is no Commonwealth, there is no propriety, all men having right to all things.
As copyright protections under Anne began to expire, some printers began manufacturing and selling inexpensive copies of books which no longer enjoyed monopoly protection under the Statute, undercutting the prices being asked by the Company of Stationers member print houses. Company printers and booksellers continued to insist on the existence of a perpetual right to copy despite the limitation period in the Statute of Anne. They argued that while protection might be limited under the Statute, some species of eternal common law copyright must exist, and that the Statute did not function to extinguish that right…
The Author of any Book or Books already Printed, who hath not Transferred to any other the Copy or Copies of such Book or Books, Share or Shares thereof, or the Bookseller or Booksellers, Printer or Printers, or other Person or Persons, who hath or have Purchased or Acquired the Copy or Copies of any Book or Books, in order to Print or Reprint the same, shall have the sole Right and Liberty of Printing such Book and Books for the Term of One and twenty Years, to Commence from the said Tenth Day of April, and no longer; and that the Author of any Book or Books already Composed and not Printed and Published, or that shall hereafter be Composed, and his Assignee, or Assigns, shall have the sole Liberty of Printing and Reprinting such Book and Books for the Term of fourteen Years, to Commence from the Day of the First Publishing the same, and no longer.
In 1499, what is believed to be the first English patent was awarded by King Henry VII to a Flemish man, John of Utynam, for a method of manufacture of stained glass. The patent awarded its holder a twenty year monopoly on the process within the borders of England. In the years following, the crown granted a great many of these patent monopolies. Historically, letters patent cannot be seen to be completely analogous to modern patent law, which grants a time-limited monopoly to the inventors of novel technologies. Letters patent were issued by the crown to favoured subjects – or those willing to pay for the privilege…
It’s difficult to analyze the impact of complex bills like Bill C-51, partly because the amendments it makes to other Acts don’t have any context. I’ve found that when analyzing legislation, it’s a big help to actually merge the amendments into the text of the other Acts. That’s what I’ve done here…
I came across this “Death and Repudiation License” in a recent software licensing review/copyright audit. Essentially, you can use the software if you’re dead, but the licensor will repudiate the license agreement “at a time which is designated to be the most inconvenient”. Your children and heirs will be subject to “infinite punishments”…
OK. All’s well that ends well. As politicians propose stripping more of your privacy and personal liberties over the coming days in the name of “security against terrorism”, remember that CURRENT SECURITY LEVELS WORKED. This could not have gone better. Sadly, one innocent person died. But no matter how much security you install, you will …
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