Software IP and Games – which model applies?

Friday, December 5th, 2008 Posted in Information Technology, Intellectual Property, Video Games | 2 Comments »

At the moment, video games, because they are software, are covered by copyright.  But traditionally, games were covered by patent. Hmm.  I've argued before that software should be sui generis, governed by a hybrid model of patent and copyright: The Source Door: ...

Are there benefits to “piracy”?

Thursday, November 6th, 2008 Posted in Business Law, Information Technology, Intellectual Property, Video Games | 1 Comment »

The pro-copyright, pro-DMCA, anti-counterfeit lobby groups would have you believe that all unauthorized reproduction (and distribution), colloquially known (inaccurately) as piracy, is horrid for the industries concerned, and is destroying them.  They go so far as to call it theft, ...

Alternatives to C-61, part II

Thursday, August 28th, 2008 Posted in Information Technology, Intellectual Property | No Comments »

Here's the rest of that post: GOALS The goal of any legislation is to balance concerns of interested but competing parties, and to approach this balance, as much as possible, with a public interest bias. The concerns were these:

Alternatives to C-61: Statutory concerns for the protection and encouragement of creative works

Sunday, August 24th, 2008 Posted in Information Technology, Intellectual Property | 1 Comment »

I want to suggest an alternative paradigm to the statutory regime for creative works as intellectual property, a.k.a. copyright.  I'm not going to get into detailed explanations of the existing Copyleft and other alternative paradigms to copyright.  But I'm going ...

Is there a Master Chef at Bell?

Sunday, June 29th, 2008 Posted in Business Law, Communications, Information Technology, Privacy | No Comments »

Bell has been busted for Internet throttling.  (CBC story here.)  No news there.  The news is that they’ve been told to back up their congestion claim with numbers.  (CBC story here.)  Expect some creative accounting of traffic dynamics ...

The “Deliverance” of C-61 Begins

Thursday, June 19th, 2008 Posted in Information Technology, Intellectual Property | No Comments »

Here we go... [UPDATED: Links added] It's been a week since the Minister of Information Industry, Jim Prentice, dropped a piano Bill C-61 on us. Thanks to Prof. Michael Geist, we had some warning: This bill would ...

RIAA and MPAA hijack the border (or someone like them)

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 Posted in Civil Liberties, Information Technology, Intellectual Property | No Comments »

Cyberion, at Tazzu, posted a link to the Vancouver Province story on the threatened border checks (ACTA) on the legitimacy of electronic media. (Cyberion's post) I had some rather strong feelings, and ranted the following: This is one of the nastiest ...

Selling your Everything II: More on non-competition clauses, IP assignments/waivers, and employment contracts

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 Posted in Business Law, Information Technology, Intellectual Property | No Comments »

A couple of months ago, I wrote a post on the subject of over-reaching employment contracts. Click here for it. Anyway, I promised that I would have the next part up within days and well, it's been kind of crazy. Between ...

Tazzu Wordpress Camp feed

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 Posted in Business Law, Communications, Information Technology | 1 Comment »

Password is tazzu-test. If it doesn't work, go to www.justin.tv/jeremycostin Watch live video from Tazzu Wordpress Camp on Justin.tv

How to make the Massive Tech Show into a massive tech show

Saturday, April 26th, 2008 Posted in Business Law, Communications, Information Technology, Privacy, Video Games, Virtual Worlds | 1 Comment »

I've been critical of the Vancouver Massive Tech Show both here and on Tazzu. I've branded it as boring, uninspired, a waste of an afternoon, and anything but either massive or a show. I've been challenged to propose something better, ...