The Archives

Everything written by Neil Turkewitz on law, economics, and more

Why the Canadian Supreme Court’s Equustek decision is a good thing for freedom — even on the Internet

I recently published a piece in the Hill welcoming the Canadian Supreme Court’s decision in Google v. Equustek. In this post I expand (at length) upon my assessment of the case. In its decision, the Court upheld injunctive relief against Google, directing the company to avoid indexing websites offering the infringing goods in question, regardless ... Why the Canadian Supreme Court’s Equustek decision is a good thing for freedom — even on the Internet

Are rules incompatible with the web? Let’s hope not: A response to Tim Wu

According to Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing, Tim Wu has written an open letter to W3C Chairman Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, expressing concern about a proposal to include Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) as part of the W3C standards. W3C has a helpful description of EME: Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) is currently a draft specification… [for] an ... Are rules incompatible with the web? Let’s hope not: A response to Tim Wu

Understanding ownership and property in the Digital Age

What does it mean to “own” something? A simple question (with a complicated answer, of course) that, astonishingly, goes unasked in a recent article in the Pennsylvania Law Review entitled, What We Buy When We “Buy Now,” by Aaron Perzanowski and Chris Hoofnagle (hereafter “P&H”). But how can we reasonably answer the question they pose ... Understanding ownership and property in the Digital Age

Copyright and the Public Interest: The Importance of Ensuring that Righteousness of Purpose Doesn’t Trump Principle

I recently became aware of a decision from the High Court in South Africa that examines an interesting intersection of freedom of expression, copyright and contract. It addresses the issue of how to define the public interest in an environment of relatively unguarded rhetoric about the role of copyright in society that is worth exploring. ... Copyright and the Public Interest: The Importance of Ensuring that Righteousness of Purpose Doesn’t Trump Principle

The song remains the same: Exceptionalists against the application of the law

In a recent article for the San Francisco Daily Journal I examine Google v. Equustek: a case currently before the Canadian Supreme Court involving the scope of jurisdiction of Canadian courts to enjoin conduct on the internet. In the piece I argue that a globally interconnected system of free enterprise must operationalize the rule of law through continuous ... The song remains the same: Exceptionalists against the application of the law

Public Knowledge’s Lonely Echo Chamber of Copyright Advocacy

Yesterday the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee issued the first set of policy proposals following their long-running copyright review process. These proposals were principally aimed at ensuring that the IT demands of the Copyright Office were properly met so that it could perform its assigned functions, and to provide adequate authority ... Public Knowledge’s Lonely Echo Chamber of Copyright Advocacy

The Internet Association’s vision for the future looks a lot like the past

Last week, the Internet Association (“IA”) — a trade group representing some of America’s most dynamic and fastest growing tech companies, including the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon, and eBay — presented the incoming Trump Administration with a ten page policy paper entitled “Policy Roadmap for New Administration, Congress.” The document’s content is not surprising, ... The Internet Association’s vision for the future looks a lot like the past