Legal Research and Writing: Journal Article Summary - LAW204

This assignment summarizes Andrea Slane's journal article, "Guarding a Cultural Icon: Concurrent Intellectual Property Regimes and the Perpetual Protection of Anne of Green Gables in Canada." The article examines the interplay between copyright, trademark, and official mark systems in Canada, particularly concerning the protection of intellectual property and the public domain. Slane argues for clear distinctions between these regimes to maintain the objectivity and reliability of the public domain, highlighting the confusion arising from overlapping definitions and the impact on works like "Anne of Green Gables." The summary explores the author's analysis of court cases, such as Drolet v. Stiftung Gralsbotschaft and Euro Excellence, to illustrate the challenges in applying trademark protections to academic works and the need for a balanced approach. The article emphasizes the importance of differentiating between the source in trademark and origin in copyright, goodwill in trademark, and reputation in copyright, advocating for vigilant disparity to safeguard the reliability of assigning tasks to the public area. The author suggests that proper norms and regulations should be established for the governance of trademark and copyright to protect the rights of the public. The summary concludes by highlighting the article's focus on protecting the public domain from partial competition and user deception by the correspondence between intellectual property systems.

Journal Article Summary Assignment

Concurrent Intellectual Property Regimes and Perpetual Protection of Anne of Green
Gables
Intellectual property rights can be protected by the copyrights and trademark. The author argued
that, both systems assist in the safeguarding of the rights;however, it does not signify that these
regimes must include the similar aspect. The author explained this by giving the example that,
registration under the trademark offers the protection of intellectual property rights, in the same
manner as of registration under copyright, however if both aspects implemented in the same
meaning then the expiration term prescribed under the copyright act could not have any impact
on the privileges of owner, who also used the work as a trademark (Slane, 2011, 1013).
The thesis is related with the concurrent intellectual property regimes. In the Canada, there are
some puzzling differences in the copyright, trademark and official mark system. By not
maintaining the differences in these regimes, the author contends that, it significantly intimidates
the objectivity and reliability of the public domain. There are two important areas, by which the
confusion regarding the limitation between the copyright and trademark arises, which are as
follows –
 Concealing the variation between thesource in the trademark and origin in copyright.
 They are concealing the variation between them, goodwill in trademark and reputation in
copyright.Along with this, confusion between the copyright and official mark also
generated by the inadequate deliberation while providing an imposing official mark
safeguards of the tenacity of each system in connection to other, particularly with aspect
to the significance of ‘Public Benefit’ in the evaluation of power to official marks
safeguards (Slane, 2011, 1014).
For supporting the thesis, that is intellectual property regimes, the author states that vigilant
disparity among each system is essential for holding the reliability of process related to assigning
the task to the public area. There should clear distinguish between each regime and suggest that
this safeguards can be provided by the other system. In the case of, Drolet v.
StiftungGralsbotschaft, the court recognized certain restriction to the implication of security
under the trademark, to put the mechanism on the academic work in the public area. The court
designated three registered trademark which, for example, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES,
involved of the designations of especially academic work registered for application in connection
with to books, in part as the provision of a trademark cannot overthrow the rules and regulations
prescribed under the copyright act(Slane, 2011, 1018). The author states that, if a person is
allowed for register a trademark for the designation of such workwoulddownfall the purpose of
court and the general public may use it on the other work,and they can even modify it as per their
requirement. On the other hand, the author states that in case of Euro Excellence, the court did
not consider the differences between the copyright and trademark. Justice Rothstenin, made the
decision without additional questioning into dissimilarities between them. In reality, Justice
Bastarache suggested to Justice Rothstenin, that copy right and trademark should be analyzed in
connection with each other;however it was not considered by Justice Rothstenin(Slane, 2011,
1016).
Although, till date, there is no discussion that completely solved the issued related with the
intersection between official marks and copyright. The article shows that, the basic requirement
under the protection of copyright is that the work of the author cannot be copied by any other

person; it is the result of skills and knowledge of the author. On the other hand, trademark does
not connect with the idea of origination;instead, it deals with in connection with the goods and
services, where the mark is implemented. For example, the logo on a brand is an identification of
the company tracing the product or service, and it is not essential that the same company has the
copyright on the design of the logo(Slane, 2011, 1019).Further, the significance of the trademark
law for the safeguarding of the mark as work is the main source of confusion between the
trademark law and copyright.
The author states thatprotection through the trademark on the ongoing character can be
implemented by the two ways such as free riding on the attainment of inventive work should be
restricted andthe court should protect the famous graphic depiction from the exploitation by
another person(Slane, 2011, 1027).Role of the image in copyright and goodwill in trademark yet
not be directly compared by the court of Canada. Although the difference in the two is based on
that, reputation is the copyright is subjective and personal,and goodwill in the trademark is used
in an objective and commercial sense. However, according to the defamation law of common
law, reputation right of the one person cannot be transferred to another person. In contrary,
goodwill in the trademark is related to business and not of personal nature, thus is transferable
(Slane, 2011, 1033).This article states that, in the recent judgment, the court has supported
copyright as corresponding of rights between consumer and creator and suggests that copyright
as an incentive for the author. Maintaining an appropriate balance leads to the best public
interest(Slane, 2011, 1044). Further, two features of protection of official mark particularly assist
towards the significance of safeguarding the public domain. The first one is lack of registration
requirement,andthe other one is fewer requirements that an organization provide a public benefit
with the intention of meeting the required public authority.
The author states about the blurring differences in the copyright and trademark, however
sometimes it is even not recognized by the court. Further, it is stated that in connection with the
inventive good and services, difference between the origin in copyright and source in trademark
is significant (Slane, 2011, 1045). It is advisable that, there should be proper norms and
regulations for the governance of trademark and copyright, so that rights of the public can be
protected.
On the basis of the above analysis, it has been seen that the article is focused on the protection of
the public domain from correspondence between distinct intellectual property systems. The
intellectual property regime should be made for the prevention of partial competition and user
deception.

REFERENCES
Book
Andrea Slane, Guarding a Cultural Icon: Concurrent Intellectual Property Regimes and the
Perpetual Protection of Anne of Green Gables in Canada (2011) 56:4 McGill Law Journal 1011-
1055