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Federal court kills Tory Wind Mobile decision

February 4, 2011February 10, 2011 Doug Groves canada, CRTC, Federal court, Globalive, government, legal, Public Mobile, Wind Mobile0 comment

It’s been a busy week for the Federal government and the CRTC. The latest is that Federal Court judge Roger Hughes has struck down 2009 Tory decision to overrule the CRTC when it comes to Globalive, best known as new mobile carrier Wind Mobile. The appeal to Federal Court was launched by new entrant rival Public Mobile, which claimed that the government had overstepped its bounds in allowing Wind to launch even though it didn’t meet CRTC Canadian ownership regulations. The judge has instituted a 45 day stay, which lets…

Usage based billing debates are wrong… and here’s why

February 3, 2011September 26, 2012 Doug Groves Bell, CRTC, Jean-François Mezei, legal, net neutrality, Primus, Tony Clement, UBB, Usage Based Billing8 Comments

[Ed Note: this article was updated with new information] The Canadian government has once again promised to overturn a CRTC decision if the CRTC doesn’t do so itself. This time around, it’s the the contentious Usage Based Billing ruling that would have crippled 3rd party ISPs from differentiating themselves in the marketplace. It’s rare for the government to step into CRTC affairs, but with the UBB issue growing in public awareness and a deadline looming less than a month away, they’ve pulled out the big guns. After all, it was…

DMCA disaster headed to Canada!

May 5, 2010 Doug Groves canada, DMCA, legal, Michael Geist, online rights, PMO5 Comments

Despite a vocal popular opposition to the idea of enacting anything like the lunacy of the US DMCA here in Canada, that’s exactly the type of copyright bill the Prime Minister’s Office plans on introducing this June. Who cares what the People say, when the US speaks, I guess, even if most of what they say regarding Canada as a copyright violators haven is propagandist FUD. Anyways, instead of ranting, here’s the details from Michael Geist’s site, as well as how to get your voice heard! Months of public debate…

The long and winding tale of a blogger, a lost prototype and the cops who came a-knocking

April 28, 2010July 30, 2014 Doug Groves Apple, California, cartoon, editorial, editorial comic, Gizmodo, iPhone 4G, Jason Chen, legal, REACT, rgbcomic3 Comments

Except for a brief roundtable discussion which we published last week, we largely steered clear of the whole Gizmodo iPhone 4G leak, but recent events make it interesting to look at in a different light. This past Friday night, California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) police, operating under a search warrant, busted down Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s front door home while he was out, and confiscated all his computer equipment. To get you caught up on the story, here’s the Cliff Notes version of events leading up to it:

Viacom vs. Youtube… and Viacom?

March 18, 2010 Doug Groves funny, legal, Viacom, YouTube4 Comments

Back in 2007, media giant Viacom launched a lawsuit against Youtube for allegedly violating copyright when users posted clips of Viacom properties to the video sharing site. Normally, the procedure for determining the rights goes a little something like this… Person posts a clip to YouTube. Copyright owner tells YouTube to remove it. Person can challenge this with a letter. YouTube re-instates the video until the legalities are sorted out. This is generally the standard operating procedure in most cases. Zahavah Levine, chief counsel for YouTube has posted an article…

Rogers pulls a Telus and sues Bell over network claims

December 2, 2009 Doug Groves Bell, HSPA, legal, Rogers, Telus, Wireless0 comment

Rogers Wireless division must be feeling pretty down lately. With the launch of the new Bell/Telus HSPA network, big Red lost exclusivity of the iPhone. Telus also managed to get a court ruling preventing Rogers from advertising themselves as the “most reliable network”. Now, in what can only be seen as a fit of jealous rage case of turnabout is fair play, Rogers has launched a lawsuit to prevent Bell from saying essentially the same thing. Bell’s latest ads for the new network claim that it’s “the largest, fastest, and…

Nokia Sues Apple over patent infringement

October 23, 2009 Doug Groves Apple, iPhone, legal, Nokia0 comment

Usually, when you hear about patent infringement cases, it’s some patent troll company trying to squeeze money out of another company because the troll happened along something. From all appearences, that’s not the case this time. On their website yesterday, Nokia announced… …it has today filed a complaint against Apple with the Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that Apple’s iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) standards. It further explains that just about every major vendor is currently licensing technology from Nokia, which isn’t too…