The following, sent to Slaw by special arrangement, is a version of the lecture delivered at the session on Publishing and the Public Interest at the 6th International Publishers Copyright Symposium, Montreal, April 24, 2006, by David Vaver, Professor of intellectual property & and information technology law, University of Oxford, and director of the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre, St Peter’s College.

The public image of publishers and copyright

What does the public want of publishers? As book buyers, they want ready access to cheap and varied books in their language of choice. They don’t want to be told . . . [more]

There’s a new kid on the block. Copyright isn’t just the topic of Slaw’s theme week; it’s also the succinct title of a new journal. This should go on Simon Chester’s list, but it also deserves a notice all of its own. Here’s what the journal has to say about itself:

Copyright is an open-access, peer-reviewed, non-profit journal which focuses on rapidly reviewing, publishing, and disseminating scholarly analysis and commentary in the field of intellectual property, its Internet-era implications and quantitative effects. Copyright unites fields as disparate as law, statistics, and marketing around a common theme of IP by

This just in to Slaw from William Abresch, Director, Project on Extrajudicial Executions, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU School of Law:

We’ve just launched a web site that I think Slaw’s readers would be interested in: http://www.extrajudicialexecutions.org

The site aims to make information about issues taken up by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions more accessible.

Two features that we are especially excited about are:

• A country-by-country guide to the Special Rapporteur’s fact-finding visits and correspondence with governments. This will be helpful to anyone researching the human rights situation in a particular country.
  http://www.extrajudicialexecutions.org/communications

Here’s what the SCC has to say about access to court records:

The relevant fees for obtaining copies of documents are $0.50 per page plus $5 for consulting a closed file. A case file is considered closed as soon as the judgment is rendered. Copies of documents are mailed within 48 hours of the receipt of the cheque.

This may be changing where factums are concerned, as noted by SLAWers, who seem to think that there are not good legal or pratical reasons to restrict access. In my opinion, the practice of allowing court recorders to control the sale of . . . [more]

Can you write three sentences?

I need help from those whose practices – or lives – have been affected – for good or ill – by the advent of the BlackBerry.

The American Bar Association’s Law Practice MagazineWhose Editorial Board I chair – full disclosure is running a feature in its next issue on the impact of the BlackBerry on the practice of law, and I’ve been asked to canvass views for a sidebar.

I’m not looking for an essay. Just the sort of flip three lines that one would expect from a BlackBerry.

I’ll need them by May Day . . . [more]

A special theme week post by guest blogger Michael Geist, who holds the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa.

While the timing of a new Canadian copyright reform bill remains a mystery, there is little doubt that lawyers will play an important role whenever the successor to Bill C-60 is unveiled. Copyright reform invariably unleashes a torrent of conferences, workshops, papers, blog postings, and opinion pieces prominently featuring members of the legal profession, whether as advocates, lobbyists, counsel, or independent experts.

Often missing from the process, however, is discussion about the impact . . . [more]

Since this week starts Slaw’s First Theme Week, what better way of welcoming researchers than to provide a start to a pathfinder on Copyright research. We welcome comments to add to this list so that we could at the end build a resource that could have value beyond May Day.

To get the ball rolling I offer a few modest links, which demonstrate the richness of the materials available.

Let’s start with doctrine: – Current copyright literature
Next to Genie Tyburski and the wonderful Virtual Chase – Virtual Chase Legal Research guide: Intellectual Property Law
From Slaw’s own Ted . . . [more]

Starting tomorrow, Monday April 24, we’re initiating our first theme week here at Slaw. The theme is copyright, and our hope is that many if not most of the posts made this week will explore this topic. I’m imagining that some will point to research resources on copyright that might not be common knowledge and that others will tackle issues of how copyright affects legal research, particularly as done with IT. But whatever their approach, theme week posts will sport this logo in the upper left-hand corner of the post:

At the end of the week, we’ll gather them . . . [more]

1. Well-Tempered Clavier
2. The Billable Hour Clock
3. Ontario Legislative Assembly
4. Ontario Public Bills Index
5. Ontario Bills Before the House
6. IMA (Internet Marketing Attorney) Awards for 2006/07
7. Internet Marketing Attorney M. Buchdahl
8. Internet Marketing Attorney: International Firm Reviews from 2004-05
9. Clark Wilson
10. The Williams Law Firm: J. Williams
11. Law Office of Robert J. Ambrogi
12. Legal Talk Network: Lawyers’ Websites
13. Justia.com
14. FindLaw
15. PaperStreet Web Design
16. Dennis Kennedy
17. ABA Techshow: Ladies and Gents, In this Corner, Microsoft and in this Corner, Google
18. T. Friedman, “The World is Flat”
19. DUI Blog
20. Construction law blog
21. Video Game Law Blog
22. Financial Institution Law Blog
23. Beyond Structured Settlements

In today’s Fillip temperament is key — a whole lot of keys, as it happens, because it’s about a site that does wonders with the already marvelous Well-Tempered Clavier by J.S. Bach. The site, also called the Well-Tempered Clavier, invites you to chose (from either a scrolling list of key signatures or a keyboard) one of the 24 keys you’d like to explore with Bach. When you click on the chosen key in the list, a small window pops up and the first few bars of the selected prelude and fugue start playing. In the upper right corner of . . . [more]

I attended a sneak preview of the new Quicklaw/Lexis platform earlier this week and found it to be quite interesting. A good way of describing it would be a Lexis platform with a Quicklaw feel. But make no mistake, the platform we are all so familiar with is on the clock. Lots of bells and whistles for the seasoned researcher with some newer features to come. Knowing the readership of Slaw I don’t want to go to far and get the folk at LexisNexis Canada Inc. too ticked off at me, but with the CALL conference coming up many of . . . [more]

This announcement came out from the Legislative Library at the Ontario Legislative Assembly yesterday, and permission has been obtained from Erica Anderson to repost here:

* * * * *

In an effort to move towards one access point for all information about current Ontario Bills, the Legislative Assembly website is undergoing some changes. Most recently, current bill information has been integrated into one site.

There have been two places to find bill information: The Public Bills Index (on the “Bills” portion of the website), and the Bills Before the House pages (on the “Library” portion of the website).

For . . . [more]