Topic: Patent

Me, Myself & ‘AI’

Human interactions with technology In the past few years, the use of social media has increased rapidly. A key feature of social media platforms and social media apps is the ability to interact with other people in ways that were not thought possible in previous generations. With the click of a button, someone from the … Continue reading

Industrial Designs: Protecting Graphical User Interfaces – A Primer for Social Media Entrepreneurs

By Brian Chau (CA) on March 7, 2017 Posted in Patent

This post is directed to entrepreneurs and developers who are building platforms incorporating features of social media networks, or building their own social media technologies, regarding design protection requirements in Canada. Several practice notices have been issued very recently by the Canadian Industrial Design Office, providing guidance on designs including colour and animated graphical user … Continue reading

Social Media & IP Enforceability

By Brian Chau (CA) and Christopher Hunter on February 29, 2016 Posted in Copyright, Patent, Trademark

Social media channels represent an exciting medium to reach out to the public and potential collaborators. Social media can also play an important role in helping generate positive buzz for organizations seeking to develop a market for their products or services. For example, many of today’s companies gauge the depth of market interest in their … Continue reading

Legal considerations for social network APIs

By Maya Medeiros on December 19, 2014 Posted in Copyright, Patent, Trademark

An application programming interface (API) is a library or structured set of software tools that provides an interface to a backend software platform, such as a social networking platform, without providing direct access to the underlying source code of the platform. For example, Facebook™, Twitter™, Instagram™, LinkedIn™, Google Plus™, and Tumblr™ offer APIs so that … Continue reading

Wearable devices merge reality and social media

By Maya Medeiros on October 25, 2013 Posted in Patent

Wearable computing devices, such as Google Glass (i.e., glasses integrated with a computing device), are expected to explode in popularity. Currently, wearable computing devices have generally limited social media application, but that may soon change. In October 2013, Google was granted a US patent that highlights several possible social media applications for wearable devices, such … Continue reading

Social media companies adopt alternative patent models

By Maya Medeiros on August 16, 2013 Posted in Patent, Social media policies

Social media companies are increasingly involved in patent lawsuits and frustration is setting in. Hoping to inspire change within the industry, a number of companies have adopted alternative patent policies. While these alternative models are based on the social good of sharing innovation with a promise to use patents only as a defensive shield and … Continue reading