Category Archives: Business Law

Microsoft’s Ironic Poker Game: But are they bluffing this time?

Back in February, Network World ran a story that Linus Torvalds, inventor of the Linux operating system and guru of the Linux kernel, believes that Microsoft is bluffing in its threat to sue for patent infringement. NW quotes Torvals as … Continue reading

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Hulu and the NHL, follow-up

In response to a comment received putting succinctly Mr. Bettman’s effect on the NHL, I would like to present two screen captures comparing the customer relations aspects of licensing issue manifestations. We have the new South Park Studios web site, … Continue reading

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Hulu and the NHL

Michael Geist pointed out that the NHL webcast on Hulu.com is blocked to Canadians. It was pointed out in the comments that it seems blocked to other non-Americans as well. I added my $0.02 (i.e. this is my comment on … Continue reading

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Collective mens rea? Or a lack of musical supply…

Ben Jones of TorrentFreak published an article a couple of weeks ago discussing the 2008 Digital Entertainment Survey in the U.K., in which it was revealed not only that so-called “piracy” is rampant, even among the generally non-criminal element. What’s … Continue reading

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Selling your everything: Non-comp clauses, IP, and employment contracts

I would like to write, today, about a murky subject I’ve been thinking about for a few weeks. The various forms the germ of this post has assumed over those weeks all stem from a particular type of clause – … Continue reading

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Joomla Demo Camp – Vancouver

I am spending this evening at the Joomla! Demo Camp at The Network Hub in downtown Vancouver. Joomla! is an open-source content management system (CMS) that makes creating sophisticated websites with dense, extensive, and/or media rich content as easy as … Continue reading

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Shysters be Gone, part III

In part II, I identified two types of antisocial behaviour which we attempt to prevent, restrain, correct, punish, etc., with law: “those which harm the integrity of society, potentially leading to its collapse; and those which alter the dynamic of … Continue reading

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Reconstituting the Copyfight Polarization, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Corporation

I was recently discussing with a colleague on Tazzu the new allies the Copyfight seems to have found: Tazzu Discussion Thread: “The Forces of CopyRightness gain another ally” Ars Technica: The Privacy Commissioner is not a big fan of the … Continue reading

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Shysters be Gone! part II

We ended the first post in this series with the question, “Whence comes the ethical imperative, ‘Don’t be a Shyster!’?” Now we will get into it: I would like to draw an ephemeral line between moral and ethical laws – … Continue reading

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Ford gets confused and shoots itself in the foot

So Ford Motor Company is a little bit confused. They are claiming some form of intellectual property in photographs of specific Ford Mustangs. Not in the abstract image of the iconic car, but in the photographs taken by enthusiastic owners … Continue reading

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