Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow Richard Owens, a thought leader on intellectual property protection, is available to comment on decisions on York University, Equustek and AstraZeneca
OTTAWA, June 30, 2017 – The Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Richard Owens is available to offer his thought leadership on three important court cases that have either been released or are coming out soon.
The Equustek ruling from the Supreme Court agreed that a British Columbia judge “had the power to issue an injunction forcing Google to scrub search results about pirated products not just in Canada, but everywhere else in the world too”, according to Fortune.
This sends an important message to creators that Canadian law will protect their rights, says Owens.
“If Google shirks reasonable legal requirements it will only further the image of the Internet as lawless—and ultimately drive calls for regulation, possibly, horror of horrors, by an international oversight body”, wrote Owens in an op-ed for Inside Policy on the subject earlier this year.
To arrange an interview with Richard Owens, please contact Mark Brownlee, communications manager, at 613-482-8327 x105 or email at mark.brownlee@macdonaldlaurier.ca.
The other two cases are York University, which involves fair dealing and will be released by the Federal Court, and AstraZeneca, which involves the promise doctrine and will be released by the Supreme Court.
Owens has long been a critic of the application promise doctrine in Canadian courts.
“The promise doctrine has corrupted Canadian patent law and irritated international relations”, writes Owens. “By legislation or by judicial intervention, it is time to excise it and return to a more sensible understanding of utility”.
Owens is the author of a series of papers for MLI on why strong intellectual property rights help create a better Canadian economy.
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Richard Owens is a Munk Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and lawyer who has specialized in business and commercial law, regulation of financial institutions, intellectual property and technology.
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank in Ottawa focusing on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
For more information, please contact Mark Brownlee, communications manager, at 613-482-8327 x105 or email at mark.brownlee@macdonaldlaurier.ca.
