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 TH ER EA GA PI N

IN TE LLECT UAL PROPE RT YL AW

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

hadac omputerItwa sanAppleII withKo f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disc ussingtoday

Noone couldhave predictedthe developmentsthat wehavew it-

nessedandI thinknoonec anpredictwhatissueswew illbedealing

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

sointerestinginthestcentur y

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

intheso cial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intellectua l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Sookma nisseniorpartnerintheTech nologyLawGroupatMcCarthy

TétraultLLPauthorofnumerousbooksandadjunctprofessorofi ntellectual

propertyatOsgoodeHa llLawSchoolHeappreciatesandacknowledgesther oleof

ClaireGowdyinhelpingtoed ittheseremarksforpublication

 wwwbarrysookm ancom