Howard Knopf assesses the legal battle over the City of Toronto's use of the penny in an advertising campaign.
A Penny for Your Thoughts
October 9, 2007
Share this post
One Comment

Law Bytes
Episode 268: Sara Grimes on the Moral Panic Behind Banning Kids from Social Media and AI Chatbots
byMichael Geist

May 11, 2026
Michael Geist
May 4, 2026
Michael Geist
April 27, 2026
Michael Geist
Ep. 265 – Jason Millar on Claude Mythos, Project Glasswing, and the Governance Crisis in Frontier AI
April 20, 2026
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Michael Geist on Substack
Recent Posts
Slick Videos Won’t Save Lawful Access: Why The Government’s Bill C-22 Defence Avoids the Charter, Privacy and Security Concerns Raised By Critics
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 268: Sara Grimes on the Moral Panic Behind Banning Kids from Social Media and AI Chatbots
U.S. Congressional Leaders Warn Canadian Lawful Access Plans Harm U.S. National Security and Economic Interests
Make It Make Sense: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Bill C-22’s Lawful Access Plan
Why Social Media and AI Chatbot Bans for Kids Are Bad Policy: Making the Case at the Senate Social Affairs, Science and Tech Committee

Stupid
I\’m appalled that this sort of Americanized corporate copyright bullhockey has made its way into Canada, and from a crown corporation, no less.
There are three issues here:
1. How can you possibly copyright what is a proper noun used so frequently that it warrants being an improper one?
2. Crown corporations (basically, government) can own copyrights? Something is *seriously* wrong with that notion; it needs to be addressed and reformed.
3. Arguably, the government is using copyright as a cloak to suppress Torontonians\’ political freedom of speech. This is wrong on so many levels, from that government should *never* be able to assert copyright, to that they are lying about their true motives and that free speech is being oppressed (I hope I don\’t have to tell anyone what is wrong with that). I\’m disgusted that this is even able to occur in a democracy such as ours.