Letters and Comment

In praise of the Da Vinci Code judgement-

Dr. Suthersanen’s article, Copyright in the Courts:The Da Vinci Code (June 2006), sets forth in a clear and concise manner the basic copyright law principles that thankfully have not been changed.

As an IP attorney, I became immediately concerned (albeit without possessing the details of the case) that no motion was adjudicated dismissing the case as frivolous or unfounded, and that the courts took the case seriously enough to accept to hear it. From the few facts that were trickling out from the media feeding frenzy I feared that copyright law may be turned on its head. I was greatly relieved when this turned out not to be the case.

I admit I was astonished at the media coverage generated by this case. But isn’t it interesting that both books share a common publisher? That the authors of both The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail and The Da Vinci Code recently launched new books? Not to mention the Hollywood adaptation. This whole "fiasco" was a publicist’s dream. The lawyers’ fees for both sides combined are probably much less than any advertisement campaign would have cost them for equal media exposure!-and of WIPO’s "star" dispute resolution service

Separately, your April 2006 article, Resolving IP Disputes Through Mediation and Arbitration, spotlights one of WIPO’s star services. The article summarized nicely - and in language I can show my clients - what services are available to help resolve domain name disputes. I find this sort of article useful to my practice of law.

From Nathaly J. Vermette, LL.B., LL.M., Attorney and Trade-mark Agent, Montreal, Canada

Zambian journalists against piracy

I read with interest the article on counterfeit (Recent Challenges for Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, April 2006) and wish to share some of my country’s own experience - and a new initiative to involve journalists.

Zambia has not been spared the scourge of piracy and counterfeit. Zambian musicians have suffered the most. One only needs to walk the streets and market places of Lusaka to see how business in pirated music is booming. Pirated audio and video tapes, DVDs, and CDs are offloaded onto the market within minutes of being released. According to Ministry of Information statistics, the Zambian government...