Corporate Greed or Commercial Need?
This is a recent article of mine published in the National Business Review (NBR) on 10 February 2012 questioning whether owners of IP are greedy for trying to slow down online infringement. ——————————————————————————————————————– Recent commentators in this publication suggest that US piracy laws threaten New Zealand companies and that this is a fight between corporate […]
Harassment yes, but Hate?
Hate crimes – do we need a special offence in New Zealand? <a href="http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/commentary/tyler-clementis-roommate-dharun-ravi-did-not-commit-a-hate-crime "
Adwords Set Back
The recent Full Federal Court of Australia decision holding that Google participated in misleading conduct through it Adwords service is a setback for the company and no doubt the battle is heading to the High Court for final determination, see http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/325843/20120410/google-challenges-australian-federal-court-adwords-ruling.htm
Compensation for David Bain?
Compensation for David Bain? Read this and have a think about it? http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/8075826/Compensation-for-B ain-would-be-a-travesty
Cyber-Bullying – Action on the Way
The Law Commission has recommended, in a briefing paper to Justice Minister Judith Collins, the introduction of a new criminal offence, aimed at combatting indecent, obscene or menacing online comments – regardless of the platform used. The Commission also proposes an offence of inciting a person to commit suicide. A big change would be the […]
Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy
In New Zealand the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) is considering issues relating to the enforcement of the criminal provisions contained in the Trade Marks Act 2002 and the Copyright Act 1994. In particular, the Ministry is investigating the possibility of the Ministry’s National Enforcement Unit (NEU) taking on a role in the enforcement of […]
Copyright Law: Update on Recent Practical Developments – 2007
Paper given to the Auckland District Law Society in August 2007 1. The purpose of this paper is to update practitioners on recent developments in the copyright law area. I approach the task in two parts. Firstly, dealing with the principal legislative developments and secondly looking at a couple of other developments of interest. Main […]
Online Infringement – Major changes ahead!
The issue of online infringement is a highly contentious one. On 23 February 2010 the NZ the Government introduced the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill. The bill will amend the Copyright Act 1994. It will bring in significant changes. One of the key changes is the “three strike” rule, whereby ISP’s are required to […]
‘Cyber Resilience’
The World Economic Forum, made up of private sector leaders had its annual meeting at the end of January 2012. The forum’s aim is to achieve partnering and so called “Cyber Resilience” in a global, multi-industry and multi-stakeholder way. See recent article: http://www.ip-watch.org/?p=19238&utm_source=post&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alerts Interestingly, the “Cyber Resilience Initiative to Safeguard the Digital Environment” includes a commitment to protect […]
The Kim Dotcom Saga
How did a big fish like Kim Dotcom, the alleged mastermind of a sophisticated and successful international online pirating operation, end up in the North Shore District Court of New Zealand? A good question and one I asked – see recent New Zealand Herald opinion at: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10784190