Old Rules for New Issues with New Media: Is There a Gap in Intellectual Property Law?

• Author: Barry Sookman
• Pages: 25-29



OldRulesforNewIssues

withNewMedia

ISTHEREAGAPIN

INTELLECTUALPROPERTYLAW

Barry Sookman*

TheevolutionofissuesinITlawhasbeenfascinatingtowatchovermy

twoandahalfdecadesofpracticeAsapointofreferencewhenIbegan

practisinginthisareaoflawIwasoneoftwolawyersinmyocewho

hadacomputerItwasanAppleIIwithKofmemoryThepredomin-

ant issues of IT law have evolvedsince t hen from dealing with the

mainframes and desktop computers to the network environment and

socialmediathatwearediscussingtoday

Noonecouldhavepredictedthedevelopmentsthatwehavewit-

nessedandIthinknoonecanpredictwhatissueswewillbedealing

withinveyearsThisuncertaintyiswhatmakesthepracticeofITlaw

sointerestinginthestcentury

Thisarticlewillrstfocusonthegapinintellectualpropertylaw

inthesocialmediaemploymentcontextandthespecicissuesrelating

toownershipofaccountsanddataMyslideswhicharepostedonmy

websitealsodealwithotherintellectualpropertyissuesinvolvedwith

socialmedia

Ownershipissuesinthecontextofemploymentlawhavebecomea

hottopicHereisacommonfactpaern

 BarrySookmanisseniorpartnerintheTechnologyLawGroupatMcCarthy

TétraultLLPauthorofnumerousbooksandadjunctprofessorofintellectual

propertyatOsgoodeHallLawSchoolHeappreciatesandacknowledgestheroleof

ClaireGowdyinhelpingtoedittheseremarksforpublication

 wwwbarrysookmancom