APIs Archives - Barry Sookman

Copyright Potpourri 2020-2021: my ALAI Canada presentation

I had the pleasure of speaking earlier today at an ALAI Canada meeting to give a copyright law update for 2020-2021. The title of my talk was Copyright Potpourri. The cases canvassed were:

–York University v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, 2020 FCA 77

–York University, et al. v. Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, SCC Docket 39222

–Bell Media Inc. v. GoldTV.Biz, 2019 FC 1432

–TEKSAVVY SOLUTIONS INC. v. BELL MEDIA INC., ET AL Appeal (Copyright Act, FCA A-440-19

–Entertainment Software Assoc.…

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Oracle v Google: APIs protected by copyright; copying for compatibility not a defense to copyright infringement

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit released an important decision yesterday in the ongoing battle between Oracle and Google over copyright protection for the Java APIs Goolge used in developing Android. In Oracle America, Inc. v Google Inc. 2014 WL 1855277 (CAFC. May 9, 2014), the Court reversed the District Court on practically every legal finding made by that court and ruled that, subject to a possible fair use defense, that Google infringed Oracle’s copyright.

The case is going to be a key precedent on the scope of copyright protection for computer programs.…

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Copyright law 2012: the year in review in Canada and around the world

Yesterday, I gave a talk at the Law Society of Upper Canada’s 17h Annual Intellectual Property Law: The Year in Review program. My talk canvassed developments in copyright in Canada and around the world in 2012. My slides are shown below. The associated paper prepared in collaboration with Glen Bloom, with the help of others, is available here.

The following copyright cases from Canada, the USA, UK and Ireland, Australia, and Europe are dealt with in the paper and slides.…

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Developments in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law (2011-2012)

Here are the slides used in my presentation to the Toronto Computer Lawyers Group earlier today, The Year in Review: Developments in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law (2011-2012). It covers significant developements since my talk last spring, Developments in Computer, Internet and E-Commerce Law (2010-2011).

The slides include a summary of the following cases:

Kraft Real Estate Investments, LLC v Homeway.com, Inc. 2012 WL 220271 (D.S.Car. Jan 24, 2012)

Swift v. Zynga Game Network, Inc., 805 F.Supp.2d…

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So you want to protect computer programs by copyright, the Oracle v Google and SAS v WPL cases (Updated)

Are computer programs protected by copyright? That issue was a hot one three decades ago when courts began to struggle with whether these intangible utilitarian objects could be protected. Were they machine parts outside the realm of copyright or literary works, the kind of subject matter that copyright protects? This issue was quickly resolved in favor of copyright protection, first by the courts in the US, Australia, Canada and elsewhere in a series of cases involving the Apple II operating system and in other cases, then by international conventions and treaties and worldwide copyright amendments by governments that wanted to be sure programs could not be blatantly pirated.…

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