No lies, please. We’re British.

A European directive (Directive 2005/29/EC Of The European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 [PDF]) that deals with unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices became effective law in Britain at the end of last year. As people wake up to its import, there have been reports that certain of its provisions would apply to misuse of the internet by bloggers. Annex I of the directive lists those commercial practices that are “in all circumstances considered unfair”; and item 22 in the Annex reads as follows:

22. Falsely claiming or creating the impression that

Two weeks ago, I attended the session “Citizens, Pundits and Scholars: In Defence of Blogs” at the Ontario Library Association’s annual conference. Presented by Mark Robertson and Kalina Grewal, both Reference Librarians at York University, it wasn’t a “how-to” session on creating a blog. Instead, it examined the content of certain blogs, and highlighted their value as sources for academic research. Based on a workshop they gave to York faculty, the speakers discussed how blogs’ interactions with global social/political issues have important implications on scholarly work. Specifically, they looked at the value of blogs for academic researchers via three contexts: . . . [more]

There’s a new blawg in town. Techblawg is the recent creation of David Ma, a partner at McCarthy Tètrault in their Technology, Communications and IP Group. As you might imagine, the blawg focuses on developments in the technology industry, or, as the site tag says, “law, technology, finance and other ruminations.”

And by the way, congratulations, David, on the domain name: techblawg.ca — just when you think all the good ones are gone, one like this pops up and gives you a (mild) head swat and a “why didn’t I think to get that?”

techblawg (no cap T)… well worth . . . [more]

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Here are a few blawg items about the legal problems with romance in the workplace:

• More on Romance in the Workplace (Thoughts from a Management Lawyer, March 11, 2005): “Office romances are a risky proposition for the manager and can have broad and extensive negative ramiffications on the company. “
• Love Contracts and the Workplace Romance (same blog, February 15, 2006): “…a couple of interesting articles that are worth checking out. The first by Michael Best & Friedrich LLP is called ‘Romance in the Workplace: Tips to Minimize the Legal and Practical Risks for Employers’. The second

One of the lawyers in our office recently shared this url – www.oddcast.com – click “Products” and “text-to-speech (TTS)”. Click the picture of the lady – she wll say what you type and if you drag your mouse around the pictures, her eyes will follow.

I cannot think of an obvious use for this technology in a law firm or law firm library – can someone else? And is anyone else feeling completely overwhelmed about the endless potential of today’s technology?

Law firms are pretty consistent in their use of word processing technology (to my knowledge almost everyone now uses . . . [more]

This Press Release from last week (Feb. 8) announces the $25 million investment, and outlines two projects.

• The Digital Content Infrastructure for the Human and Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa will supply university researchers with access to a range of international materials.
• Synergies: The Canadian Information Network for Research in the Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Montreal aims to provide access to Canadian materials, including books, peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, theses, and other kinds of Grey Literature.

The projects are jointly initiated by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Industry Canada. Here’s hoping . . . [more]

Speaking of Google, which I just was, I’m wondering what you make of the Google Valentines Day image, which you see to the right. It’s a cherry where the “g” should be–that much is clear. But the thing dribbling down from it looks to me remarkably like half a pair of handcuffs. Now I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong. That’s not my thing at all.

So what is it supposed to be? . . . [more]

A court of first instance in Belgium has ruled against Google in a suit by a group of newspapers operating in that country who alleged that Google’s News feature violated their copyright. The NY Times has the story, as does the EUobserver. I’ve been unable to find the decision online (anyone?), but it would seem that the complaint has to do with Google’s reproduction on its news pages of the titles of newspaper articles along with short excerpts.

It’s being reported in some places that this is a ruling against linking pure and simple, which doesn’t seem accurate to . . . [more]

I’m pleased indeed to announce that Annette Demers has agreed to join Slaw as an occasional contributor. Annette will need no introduction to most of our readers, but for those who might not know: she is the Reference Librarian at the Paul Martin Law Library, University of Windsor. Previously Annette worked as a Reference Librarian for International, Foreign and Comparative Law at the Harvard Law School Library. While working at Harvard, she was the editor of the newsletter of the American Association of Law Libraries Foreign, Comparative and International Law Special Interest Section. Annette also worked as a volunteer consultant . . . [more]

If you haven’t been following the web-tech circles lately, you may have missed the buzz surrounding Yahoo’s newest RSS tool – Pipes.

Pipes allows you to combine different data feeds, like RSS, into a single output. It’s similar to other feed tools, but the environment is all web based, with an interface that’s similar to visual programming applications. What makes this tool a winner though, is the logic behind the operations. You can filter, remix, and mash-up feeds to produce an incredible array of new content types.

While I think this is probably the most sophisticated RSS tool on . . . [more]

When the money went away, and the Comission went away, it looked as though all of the work went away as well. But thanks to Annette Demers (reference librarian at the University of Windsor’s law library) who pursued the matter and sends us this information, we now know that the Commission’s records and reports were stored with Library and Archives Canada in their Electronic Collection: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/206/301/law_commission_of_canada-ef/index.html

As the Electronic Collection intro page says: “Please note, information may be out of date and some functionality lost.” You betcha. . . . [more]

Tout le monde en parle: la Société canadienne de perception de la copie privée vient de dévoiler vendredi dernier sa demande de tarif pour 2008-2009. Pourtant, il n’y a rien de bien étrange avec cela, c’est même, si je puis dire, la saison. En revanche, il est quelque peu surprenant de revoir apparaître une demande sur les enregistreurs numériques, demande qui, on le sait, a déjà été refusé tant par la Commission du droit d’auteur que par la Cour fédérale d’appel.

On peut donc se demander si la situation actuelle est vraiment différente de celle traitée par la Cour . . . [more]