While reading my PK email I was directed to a great blog on IP overuse. Howard Knopf, a Canadian IP lawyer, runs the blog Excess Copyright which is mostly stories of copyright going to far. Topics include 3 strikes laws and J. D. Salinger’s over use of copyright to try and prevent “unauthorized sequel” called 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye. I strongly recommend checking it out and adding it to your reader.
Here Sample Post for March 1st 2008 :
More on Euro-Excellence v. Kraft
I’ve just done a short talk on the Supreme Court of Canada’s important Kraft decision (in which I was involved) for a LSUC CLE programme on February 28, 2008 in Toronto. Here’s my brief paper.
Here’s a bit of the bottom line in that paper.
The doors have now been opened to new issues such as copyright abuse or misuse, or the argument that copyright law cannot be used to limit free trade in articles not protected by copyright. Other arguments are also open. Current and future potential plaintiffs contemplating the use of copyright law to bar parallel imports of consumer products not protected by copyright may wish to be careful about what they wish for.
HK