Emily Xiang is an IPilogue Writer, the President of the Intellectual Property Society of Osgoode, and a 2L JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

This article is part of a series covering the 5th Annual IP Data & Research Conference, hosted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

On Thursday, March 24th, 2022, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) hosted their 5th Annual IP Data & Research Conference. For their third themed session, “IP Metrics”, experts were invited to speak about the ways they have been observing global IP trends, making IP data more accessible, and measuring the impact of IP on economic growth in Canada.

Where do Canadians Patent? Implications for Canada’s Patent Regime

Joel Blit, Professor of Economics at the University of Waterloo and CIGI Senior Fellow, kicked off the session. Blit examined the countries in which Canadian investors filed patent applications and sought to determine the extent to which the Canadian patent regime fosters domestic innovation. He found that Canadians were increasingly filing patents abroad, with more Canadians filing in at least one other country each year. Results also showed that patents filed exclusively in the US related to more advanced fields of computer sciences and technologies, while Canada-exclusive patents focused more on special-purpose machinery and the resources and energy sectors. Canadian patents also tended to belong to individual inventors rather than larger assignees, involved fewer inventors, and were cited less frequently, making them relatively less valuable in the global market for innovation.

Blit puts forward several potential explanations. One is that the Canadian patent system is providing less incentive over time for protecting domestic innovations. Another explanation is that Canadian patents are too strong, meaning it may be preferable to “weaken” them by setting higher examination standards, limiting patentable subject matter, or reducing the scope of issuable patents. That Canadians are increasingly patenting abroad could mean that Canadian inventors are becoming increasingly sophisticated, yet it could also mean that Canadian innovations and ideas are more frequently bought up by multinationals. Either way, the current Canadian patents regime seems to play a relatively minor role in promoting domestic innovation worldwide.

Identifying Artificial Intelligence (AI) Invention: A Novel AI Patent Dataset

Nicholas A. Pairolero, Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). delivered the second presentation of the session. Pairolero’s team sought to make data on AI more accessible to the public by developing a novel dataset that identified AI tech components in over 13.2 million USPTO patents and pre-grant publications.

After first determining a definition of AI, Pairolero and his team searched through USPTO’s patents using an automated machine learning (ML) model that differentiated between patent documents that did and did not contain any AI component technology. In the evaluation stage, expert AI examiners evaluated each document for AI component technology. Compared to more traditional, query-based approaches, the ML approach resulted in relatively lower precision (as a much larger number of documents were identified as containing AI), but a much higher recall (higher probability of correctly identifying AI). Moreover, both machines and humans seemed to struggle with classification at the boundaries of the various AI component technologies. However, results indicated that the ML approach achieved state-of-the-art overall performance relative to a variety of existing benchmarks from academic and policy literature, holding much promise for the future of automated processing in expediting the transmission of publicly available data.

Missions, Mandates and Metrics: What are the Right Metrics for Academic Technology Transfer?

The session concluded with a pair of presentations by Mike Szarka, Director of Research Partnerships at the University of Waterloo, and Natalie Raffoul, IP Lawyer and Managing Partner at Brion Raffoul LLP. Szarka began by suggesting that most Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) focused on some combination of a) maximizing gross revenue and licensing income generally; b) focusing on the few projects that would maximize profits; c) maximizing knowledge mobilization and research impact; d) maximizing local economic growth, and e) maximizing client satisfaction and prioritizing the needs of faculty and students. Szarka’s surveying of TTO directors across the country demonstrated that knowledge mobilization, economic development, and service to academic communities ranked much higher in the minds of the respondents than revenue generation, indicating that commonplace TTO metrics focused on royalties do not reflect the true priorities and missions of most TTOs.

Raffoul identified several alternative metrics focused on “the betterment of Canadian society”. Average reported business expenditures invested into research and development () and have been low in Canada compared to the global stage. The greater concern is whether Canadians are owning their ideas and subsequently having the opportunity to commercialize those ideas downstream (instead of assigning their rights over to foreign firms). Raffoul suggested that TTOs ought to track the number of patents they are licensing/optioning/transferring to Canadian headquartered firms compared to foreign ones, along with the revenue generated from those licenses/options/transfers and any research collaborations with those firms. For company-sponsored academic research, co-ownership of patents ought to be held up to co-authorship of papers and publications, in order to correlate evidence of knowledge creation with the ultimate ownership and control of that knowledge.

Conclusion

Though there is much work to be done for Canadian innovators and owners to remain competitive in the global market, the most recent advancements in research and technology prove that Canada is well-positioned to identify shortcomings and well-equipped to tackle them.

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Tianchu Gao is an IPilogue Writer and a 1L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

This article is part of a series covering the 5th Annual IP Data & Research Conference, hosted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Session III from the focused on IP in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. The economic impact of Covid is not as bad as expected, partly because of the prosperous IP industry in the digital world. The pandemic, in effect, accelerated the development of IP-related entrepreneurial activities. The presentations in this session look at the power of IP in economic and social growth.

In the first presentation, Carolina Arias Burgos, an economist at , discussed trademark filing as a leading indicator of the state of the European economy. Data shows that EU trademark filings correspond well with other economic indicators such as employment, domestic demand, GDP, and the overall attitude of investors toward a particular market (sentiment/confidence indicator). Domestic demand, confidence indicator for the retail sector, and Gross Capital Formation have cyclical correspondence to EU trademark filings. The values of these indicators are closely interrelated, shaped by their past values and the current and past values of other indicators (Multivariate VAR models).�� Burgos is still working on the model to include more variables and restrictions in VAR. It will hopefully generate more accurate forecasts in the future.

The second presentation examined and ‘s study taking a textual approach to analyzing trademark activity during the pandemic. They extracted the goods and services statements from around 300,000 trademark applications between 2010 and 2021, and the study looks at the topics and word meanings of these applications. Their research shows that pandemic-era trademark activities fundamentally changed in the application text context. These changes vary based on Nice class and application country origin.

and , from (ICTC), focused their presentation on the interaction between foreign direct investment (FDI) and IP in Canada. Their research employed a thematic analysis / grounded theory approach and 43 semi-structured interviews. It finds that various factors attract FDI; they include market size, talent, private investment, exit planning, government regulations, financing and innovation infrastructure, etc. Their research also identifies the aspects that can strengthen the impact of FDI on Canadian innovation, such as the VC/PE ecosystem, tax planning, procurement, IP literacy, and access.

, , and presented the they developed that educates students on IP in applied research settings. A consultation with 50 respondents from Ontario colleges undertaken early in the project indicated that 90% of them had little IP knowledge. In response to the virtual learning strategy of eCampus Ontario, they developed this online program to raise IP literacy in the context of applied research in colleges. It is an interactive module that turned out to be very effective in educating the participants.

Data shows that IP-related industries continued to prosper during the Covid-19 pandemic. Researchers are working on studies that identify and explain its development.

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Jasmine Yu is an��IPilogue��Writer and a��1L JD Candidate at the University of Toronto.

This article is part of a series covering the 5th Annual IP Data & Research Conference, hosted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

The sixth session of the 5^th Annual IP Data & Research Conference, hosted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“CIPO”) and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (“CIGI”), centered around IP, data, and digital platform governance. The two-part session was moderated by Michael Falk (director of the Office of the Chief Economist at IP Australia). It kicked off with a presentation on standards used in data ecosystems, followed by a panel discussion on the value of data and the processes involved in building collaborative ecosystems.

Falk’s opening remarks set the stage for this truly enlightening session. Over the past couple of years, our reliance on digital platforms has greatly increased, transforming how we do business and conduct our lives. This revolution has made data ecosystems and international standards all the more important.

Part I: Presentation

The first presentation was delivered by Sean Martineau (acting director and research economist at the CIPO) and Keith Jansa (executive director of the CIO Strategy Council).

They first highlighted several trends in intellectual property:

• Intangible assets’ growing importance
• Increased IP filings within the past two decades, both internationally and in Canada
• Growth in standard essential patents (“SEPs”) across the world, by country, and by individual standard setting organizations (“SSOs”)

Moving into a discussion on standards, they noted that standards establish accepted practices, technical requirements and, at times, modernize public policy. It is fascinating how standards are so integrated with our daily lives. The device you are reading this article on interacts with multiple technologies, implicating hundreds of SEPs! Some organization collects profits from licensing, and others to write cheques as cost to market each time that you use your device!

Jansa emphasized the importance of recognizing standards’ significance, the levers and process of standard development, and the impact that standards may have on advancing innovation. ��

Part II: Panel

��The subsequent three-person panel consisted of Evegueni Loukipoudis (strategic advisor at Digital Technology Supercluster), Peter Cowan (co-founder, director, and CEO advisor at Innovation Asset Collective, and principle consultant at Northworks IP), and Karima Bawa (strategic advisor on IP at Digital Technology Supercluster and senior fellow at the CIGI).

Loukipoudis kickstarted the panel with a discussion on the value of data, which he noted depends at least partly on who the user is, what they know about the data, and what they can do with it.

Cowan, on the other hand, discussed the importance of institutions having data strategy and proper infrastructure in place to collect, store, process, and use data properly. He also expressed concern for the inadequate literacy on data strategy in Canada.

Bawa focused largely on the legal aspect of data use. Data has become increasingly commercialized, with more entities entering into data-sharing arrangements to yield value out of data. She advised (informally!) parties in data-sharing arrangements to be aware of considerations such as the rights that stakeholders have over the data, regulatory compliance, management of cyber-attacks with limiting liability clauses, and how the data is accessed, stored, and guarded. Bawa also noted that it is wise to be circumspect with who you share data with, and how you share it.

��Conclusion

As the space-time continuum continues to shrink in our rapidly evolving world, data, standards, and privacy become even more important. The sixth session of the 5^th Annual IP Data & Research Conference rounded off a day of excellent presentations and discussions.

For start-ups, aspiring IP specialists, or those simply interested in IP strategy, check out this by CIGI: the CIGI Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Foundations of IP Strategy, co-created by Karima Bawa.

If you missed the conference, be sure to take a look at the materials shared by the presenters (also available in French).

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Sally Yoon is an IPilogue Writer and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

This article is part of a series covering the 5th Annual IP Data & Research Conference, hosted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

, organized by the (“CIPO”) and the (“CIGI”), included a session on “Clean Technologies” about the status of Canada’s IP ownership and cleantech sector. The moderators were Joel Blit (professor of economics at the University of Waterloo and senior fellow at CIGI) and Rich Corken (deputy director of economics, research and evidence at ).

Trends and Challenges in Canada’s IP Ownership and a Collective’s Role in Addressing these Challenges

Mike Mclean (chief executive officer of the (“IAC”)), Emma Start (director of intellectual property at ), and Dan Herman (founder of and special advisor on the Establishment of a Centralized Resource Entity on the Intellectual Property) spoke about Canadian small-to-midsize enterprises’ (“SMEs”) role as significant economic drivers. They outlined some of the key challenges SMEs face in participating successfully in the IP ecosystem:

1. Cost and complexity: The cost of acquiring patents and the complexity of the international system deters companies from participating.
2. Lack of focus in IP education on strategy-linked business outcomes and commercial success: There are challenges in applying theoretical IP knowledge to real-life practical situations, which shows a need to provide SMEs with more “granular, case-study-based” education.
3. Limited talent capacity available: There is a limited talent capacity available to help businesses with their IP strategies and limited connectivity to institutions and existing expert players.
4. Limited tools for support: Companies require more support to bridge the gap from starting an IP program to having a self-sufficient IP system and operation. This is also critical for international commercialization.

The IAC is taking a collective approach to tackle these challenges. Their initiatives include building a collective patent portfolio and obtaining IP insurance at cost-effective rates for members, conducting market and patent research to inform strategy development, and providing businesses with IP software tools. Moreover, Intellectual Property Ontario, a board-governed agency set to begin operations later this year, will also work towards addressing the above four issues to help clients access the market.

Clean Technologies’ Economic Impact and Innovation

Nicholas Johnston (junior policy analyst in the Strategy and Innovation Policy Sector at ) and Mazahir Bhagat (data scientist in Business Improvement Services at CIPO) shared statistics on the Canadian cleantech sector and its activity in IP.

Overall, statistics showed that the cleantech sector is steadily growing and well-funded, with nearly all financing requests made by SMEs being approved in 2017. The sector was also active in IP—cleantech firms were most likely to participate in strategic activities related to IP, and enterprises in the sector showed more overall familiarity with IP than the average enterprise. Patent filing trends related to CO2 conversion and hydrogen production showed that Canadian inventions constituted about 1-2 percent, with the U.S., China, and Japan being the leaders. Businesses formed a significant chunk of the institutions filing the patents in Canada and globally, with interestingly high participation from the academic sector.

Patent Analytics on Hydrogen and Low Emission Technologies

Catriona Bruce (head of Patent Analytics Hub at ) looked at the patent filing of low emissions technology and hydrogen. Global patent data from showed that solar photovoltaic cells had the leading number of global patents filed, with most hydrogen patent filings being direct to production and utilization. China was the leading source of invention for both solar photovoltaic cells and inverter and hydrogen patents, as well as a leading target market. Interestingly, patents filed in China mostly stayed within the country; 17264 filings out of about 30000 hydrogen filings were from China, with only 809 from outside of the country. Relatively fewer inventions came from Canada and Australia, indicating further initiative for investment in domestic capability.

IP in Climate Transformative Technology Companies: The SDTC Approach

Amber Batool (vice president and chief of staff at (“SDTC”)) spoke about how SDTC enforces business leadership through mentorship. Its education programs frame advice for companies and address the issue that very few Canadian companies have the mature IP to compete or financial ability to keep up. have been mentors in education programs to frame advice for companies. SDTC’s approach to making an impact includes thought leadership, tailored IP strategies and learning pathways, and IP capacity creation. It plans to continue collaborating with others doing valuable work in this area to meet its clients’ changing IP needs.

Canada has the lowest labour productivity of the G7 and is the only G7 country whose R&D has gone down over the last 20 years. The panel discussions provided valuable insights into Canada's current position within the cleantech sector and the next steps necessary to achieve our national objectives for the environment and economy while maintaining a globally prominent position within the IP ecosystem.

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Emily Chow is an IPilogue Writer and a 1L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

This article is part of a series covering the 5th Annual IP Data & Research Conference, hosted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

I attended the The panel broadly discussed how underrepresented groups navigate the IP and innovation space. I left the presentations with a better understanding of what various public service groups are doing to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives in their practices.

The first speaker was Peigi Wilson, research manager for the . Her presentation was titled “First Nations Data Sovereignty and the Intellectual Property Regime”. FNIGC’s mandate arose from trying to address the data gap caused by from three major national population surveys. Now, the FNIGC asserts data sovereignty and supports the development of information governance and management at the community level through regional and national partnerships.

After a brief overview of First Nations rights and sources, Wilson defined what First Nations Data is and how it is founded on the principles of . I thought it was quite powerful when she said that First Nations Data is “acquired from First Nations, by First Nations.” Some include data from resources and the environment,

With funding from Indigenous Services Canada, FNIGC is currently researching First Nations’ interests respecting orphan works and artists’ resale rights and developing possible solutions regarding opportunities to co-develop new laws or policies. Wilson emphasized that DEI initiatives are more than ensuring that First Nations have a seat at the table; it means that First Nations must have a role in the decision-making process as active participants in IP policy reform and innovation. She stressed the importance of recognizing Canada’s pluralistic foundations beyond the English/French history to include First Nations legal systems. She also called upon attendees to consider how they may shape new processes for consultation, free, prior, and informed consent, and co-development to address the economic inequality inherent in the system.

The next speakers were from the , a pilot non-profit organization whose mandate is to facilitate data-driven, clean-tech innovation amongst Canadian businesses. Lori DeGraw (vice president of partnerships and member engagement) and Julia Culpeper (program manager of education and strategy) jointly presented “Women and IP: Promoting Inclusion in the Innovation Ecosystem”. The IAC helps Canadian small-medium enterprises (“SMEs”) better understand, generate, commercialize, and protect their IP.

IAC presented the results of a on women’s underrepresentation in the Canadian IP ecosystem. Capturing qualitative data from their inaugural , the study re-emphasized the need to build capacity for women in the IP field, and, in doing so, create a framework to replicate with other equity-seeking groups. They are currently working on three programs to increase community and networking, outreach, and policy and advocacy for women.

One program aims to tackle the inequitable gender balance in patent filing by implementing a twice-annual grant for women to fund IP. $50k is available twice a year to IAC member companies led, founded, or owned by women. .

The last presentation was a partnership between the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (“”) and (“StatsCan”) on “The Awareness and Use of Intellectual Property by Underrepresented Groups in Canada: Insights from Survey and Administrative Data”. Speakers Danny Leung (director of Economic Analysis Division at StatsCan) and Eric Rowe (team leader of Service Insights at CIPO) highlighted results from two studies: the and the

The IPAU study found that 9% of female primary decision makers of businesses had IP that they chose not to formally protect, compared to their male counterparts at 5.4%. Another interesting statistic was that women clients were generally less satisfied with CIPO services overall (51%) than male clients (55%).

The two studies found that firms that file for patent applications are disproportionately more often owned by men. They also found that women-owned businesses are less likely to have their applications for funding granted (54.8%) as compared to their male counterparts (56.1%). More promisingly, however, patent applications by women-owned businesses grew by 133% from 2001 to 2015. Women-owned business were more likely to file patent applications in chemical engineering and medical technology than men-owned businesses. Further research on women’s experiences filing patents could be useful in understanding the trends in the data.

Overall, the presentations were a significant reminder that we still have so much more to do to level the playing field for women-owned and First Nations-owned businesses. However, with organizations like the IAC and FNIGC spearheading new programs and tools, one can be cautiously optimistic about the future of innovation in Canada.

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Patenting in Pandemic Mitigation Technologies

, Data Scientist at CIPO’s Corporate Strategies and Services Branch, shared CIPO’s response to the pandemic, including its findings of their study on COVID’s impact on IP trends in Canada. The Canadian government’s funded the (‘NRC’) to accelerate research and development in Rapid Detection and Diagnosis, Therapeutics and Vaccine Development, and Digital Health. CIPO helped the NRC to understand the patent landscape on related technologies.

The study found 11,000 global patents in these areas between 1999 to 2018, including 178 patents from Canadian institutions. In the global dataset, 56% of patents fell under Therapeutics and Vaccine Development, 33% under Rapid Detection and Diagnosis, and 11% under Digital Health. Patent activity consistently increased just after the onset of major outbreaks. For example, filings in Canada spiked after SARS and MERS.

50% of patent applications in pandemic related technologies originated in the US and China. While Canada’s 8% growth between 2009 and 2018 aligns with the global average, filings from China grew the fastest at 26%. Statistical analysis indicates a move towards concentration in patent filings from a few countries. Further, Canada was found to have one the of highest specializations in pandemic mitigation technologies compared to other countries of interest. Within Canada, British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario have the most institutions involved in patenting pandemic mitigation technologies among the provinces. The study also indicated that Canada has a large talent pool innovating in these technologies.

Impact of COVID-19: An IP Office Perspective

Next, , Head of IP Analytics and Data Insights at (‘UKIPO’) described the pandemic’s effect on UKIPO and generally on IP.

The UK was hit badly by COVID-19, with nearly 1400 daily deaths during the second wave (January 2021). The economy also took the brunt of 3 national lockdowns. However, UKIPO leveraged its recent IP modernization activities to quickly transition to remote working with changes in workflow, such as moving from fax to electronic issuance of official correspondence. Confronting the pandemic, UKIPO declared ‘interrupted days’ from March 24 to July 29, 2020. They extended document filing or opposition deadlines falling between these days and temporarily changed renewal fees to offer flexibility to businesses affected by pandemic. Workplaces adapted such measures as virtual recruitment and staff mental health and wellbeing initiatives.

Evaluating COVID-19’s impact on UKIPO’s core services, design and patent application filing increased slightly during the pandemic, while trademark filings increased significantly. Similarly, patent and design grants followed normal trends, but trademark registrations dipped before rising sharply in August 2020. Examiner productivity increased as well. The UK ranked 2^nd among the world’s fastest growing trademark registers (31% growth in 2019-20). Comparatively, trademark filings in Canada declined. The reason for unprecedented growth in global trademark trends during the pandemic is unclear, with some indication of increased investment in new brands. This will be curious to investigate, especially because market shocks like a pandemic tend to decrease new filings. UKIPO is deeply invested in researching factors that drive IP demand and filings.

In summary, UKIPO responded promptly to the pandemic with formal, staffing and customer-oriented changes which helped increase productivity.

ExploreIP: Leveraging Public Sector IP for Commercialization

The final presenters were , Director of IP, and , Senior Policy Analyst – Project Manager at ExploreIP, both from . They discussed the project, Canada’s intellectual property marketplace.

ExploreIP is a database of public sector patents with search capabilities for businesses to identify licensable inventions and connect directly with patent holders. It was launched in August 2019 in collaboration with IP Australia and currently lists over 4000 patent families sourced from 51 Canadian public sector organizations. ExploreIP was developed with an aim to assist Canadian businesses, especially SMEs, in finding technologies within public sector patents that align with their business goals and help them grow. In response to the pandemic, ISED added a new COVID-19 category in April 2020 listing pandemic-related technologies.

The platform allows businesses to reach patent owners through a dedicated page for each patent, which includes keyword search, notifications about newly added technologies, and licensing status details. The database is updated through organizational accounts wherein a public sector institution can modify their patent portfolio with new entries. This is supplemented by an automated process where ExploreIP retrieves new patents from other public databases. ExploreIP will enter its next phase of development in April 2021: optimizing the platform, enhancing the search function, and adding other types of IP and market intelligences.

ExploreIP is a much-needed initiative to help businesses search licensable patents and inventions by Canadian public institutions, access licensing and collaboration opportunities, and connect directly with IP holders. Interested business are encouraged to access the platform .

In conclusion, the panel discussions brought forward insightful points on creating robust innovation pipelines and making them shock-proof in the future. While Canada’s low pandemic-related patent filing trends suggest a need for a concerted effort to increase conversion of its scientific specialization to IP, best practices employed by UKIPO and ExploreIP against COVID-19 offer ideas which we can share in and follow.

Gurbir Sidhu is an IPilogue Contributing Editor and LLM candidate at Osgoode Professional Development.

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Robert Embree began his presentation with a brief description of and their role in protecting the distinctive look and feel of an invention. He then highlighted industrial designs’ recent gain in prominence by mentioning the over their design rights. An internal study conducted by CIPO has revealed that Canada is currently lagging behind many developed countries in protecting industrial designs. This finding sparked of the effects of holding industrial designs on an average firm’s revenue per employee and net income per employee. was conducted using a unique Canadian data set obtained with the help of of Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. The study covered 500 Canadian firms operating over the span of 25 years, from 1990 to 2014. It controlled for many factors, most importantly for the effects of obtaining patents on a firm’s revenue. The study found that by acquiring industrial design protections, the average firm’s revenue per employee increased by 19%, net income per employee increased by 23%, and, as a result of the addition of only 10% more industrial designs to the firm’s IP stock, the revenue per employee increased by 1%. The latter finding was particularly significant since the study found that a 10% increase in the number of patents that a firm holds only resulted in a 1.2% increase of revenue per employee. This study’s findings indicate that although patents tend to receive more attention in discussions about economic growth, Canadian firms could experience significant economic benefits by accumulating industrial designs.

After Robert, Alissar Hassan gave an informative about IP rights and business profitability from an Australian perspective. An conducted by IP Australia on the effects of IP rights on market concentration and competition found that the use of IP rights has doubled since the early 2000s. The study also concluded that IP owning businesses tend to gain higher profits compared to their non-IP-owning counterparts, particularly in the manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors. Although the evidence regarding the effects of IP rights on market concentration was inconclusive, the study showed that accumulating different types of IP in the forms of patents, trademarks, and industrial designs tends to positively impact business profitability in Australia. Alissar brought up an interesting point about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on trademark filings in Australia. Although tends to be positive, trademark filings with IP Australia soared in 2020 despite as a result of the pandemic. Researchers at IP Australia attribute this interesting trend to the adaptation of businesses to the new circumstances and are looking to further investigate the topic.

The panel concluded with a Q&A session which once again highlighted the positive effects of industrial designs on business revenue. Given the findings by CIPO researchers regarding the work that Canada needs to do in order to catch up with other developed countries in protecting industrial designs, IP rights seem to play a more topical role in our country’s economic prosperity than ever.

Written by Bonnie Hassanzadeh, IPilogue Managing Editor and Clinic Fellow at the IP Innovation Clinic.

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, the Deputy Minister for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), kicked off the event with opening remarks. He emphasized the importance of bringing together IP members from academia, the private sector, and the public sector to foster an inclusive IP community, inspire innovative thinking, and work together to improve Canada’s intangible economy. Kennedy noted that events like this would help develop a more durable IP structure for Canada’s national and international interests.

Kennedy concluded by emphasizing the importance of developing IP knowledge and structures within the growing digitized economy. By expanding Canada’s IP infrastructure, our institutions would be better equipped to utilize data strategies for evidence-based decision-making in a variety of spheres, including economic policies, business initiatives, and national security programs.

Following Kennedy’s introductory remarks, , Founder of CIGI, gave a keynote speech. Balsillie offered a very critical analysis of the current state of Canada’s intangible economy. He argued that Canada is currently playing “catch up” after failing to invest in IP assets and structures. By missing the international shift from traditional to intangible markets, Canada is now economically and politically vulnerable, especially as a dependent importer of IP assets.

Canada is the only country that saw a decrease in patent applications relating to Artificial Intelligence between 2016 – 2018. Canada also saw a decline in research partnerships between Canadian institutions and foreign entities over the same period. Balsillie argues that these trends are not only detrimental to the Canada’s security and sovereignty, but also indicate clear shortcomings in the Canadian IP framework.

In his presentation, Balsillie emphasized Canada’s need to establishing a better framework and policy guidelines to protect IP and data in Canada. He argued that there is a clear lack of IP knowledge among businesses and the Government, which has led to the spread of misinformation and the development of ineffective IP frameworks. Balsillie bluntly states that real IP experts are needed in positions of power to update Canada’s policy infrastructure and institutions to better match the flexible, dynamic needs of the intangible economy.

IP and data are now the most valuable business, national, and international assets. They not only shape the economy, and public and private sphere, but are also the primary drivers in economic grown and national security. Furthermore, intangible stock assets in IP tie together policy considerations such as foreign investment, domestic economic development, and national security. In other words, intangible assets such as IP and data act as the new foundation of international political-economic status and stability. The world now lives in an era of intangibles, and this conference is one of many IP initiatives telling us that Canada’s digital transformation is overdue.

Adele Zhang is an IPilogue Contributing Editor interested in the intersection between IP law and sports, and technology.

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TORONTO, February 23, 2017 – IP Osgoode, the celebrated intellectual property law and technology program at 91��ɫ’s Osgoode Hall Law School, and the International Law Research Program (ILRP) at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) today announced a partnership to expand a student-focused innovation initiative to assist start-up companies, entrepreneurs and inventors with IP-related business issues.

The International Law Research Program at CIGI – an independent, non-partisan think tank on international governance based in Waterloo, Ontario – will provide $100,000 to cover the salary for one year of an administrator for IP Osgoode’s as well as stipends for two Juris Doctor (JD) student research assistants.

The research assistants will assist Professor Giuseppina D’Agostino, IP Osgoode’s Founder and Director, to critically evaluate Osgoode’s Innovation Clinic model as well as clinic models elsewhere, and identify potential opportunities for developing a network of clinics in Canada and beyond.

“We believe the time is right to take the Innovation Clinic to the next level,” D’Agostino said. “Things are working well here, and we think they can also work elsewhere. Our goal is to help under-resourced inventors make their ideas come true and go to market. We are grateful to CIGI for helping us in this endeavour, and we’re delighted that this collaboration with CIGI will allow us to continue to offer our students a unique experiential learning opportunity.”

“Over the past two years, CIGI’s legal experts have been working to support the development of practical IP legal skills and give new entrepreneurs and innovators early access to IP legal support through student-run IP legal clinics at Communitech, one of Waterloo region’s prominent innovation centres, and LTEC at the University of Windsor,” said Bassem Awad, Deputy Director of CIGI’s innovation and IP law research. “This partnership with Osgoode provides an opportunity to support the study of a different kind of IP legal clinic which aims to provide start-ups with free access to IP legal advice from a major IP law firm and law students with front row practical IP legal training. We look forward to learning how effectively this model delivers IP awareness and IP legal training and whether the model is sustainable.”

Launched in 2010, the Osgoode Innovation Clinic was the first student-staffed IP legal clinic of its kind in Canada. The students, who are supervised and mentored by lawyers from Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, provide pro bono legal assistance to start-ups that cannot afford to pay legal costs. Obtaining just one patent in Canada typically costs about $20,000 from filing to final registration.

In its seven years of operation, the Innovation Clinic has attracted a broad range of clients including walk-ins from the general public, referrals from a number of external organizations, such as the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), ventureLAB, OCADU, and the 91��ɫ Entrepreneurship Development Institute, and through formal collaborations between 91��ɫ’s Innovation 91��ɫ and the Lassonde School of Engineering’s Bergeron Entrepreneurs in Science & Technology (BEST) Program.

D’Agostino said the Innovation Clinic research dovetails with two of her current Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)-funded research projects, entitled “Fostering Innovation in Canada through Intellectual Property Law” and “Triggering Innovation: Transnational Partnership for the Mobilization of IP Policy and Practices.”

The first project investigates the policies and practices inventors face at Canadian universities as they attempt to commercialize their inventions with the assistance of their university’s innovation or technology transfer offices. While the latter project investigates the legal implications of commercializing the intellectual property rights of public and private entities, and aims to tackle specific facets of commercialization.

“The Innovation Clinic is actually the petri dish for my research,” D’Agostino said. “The federal government’s investment in my research has helped to enable this partnership with CIGI, provide experiential learning opportunities for our students, and support under-resourced inventors and start-ups.”

About 91��ɫ

is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 26 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni. 91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

About CIGI

The (CIGI) is an independent, non-partisan think tank with an objective and uniquely global perspective. CIGI’s research, opinions and public voice make a difference in today’s world by bringing clarity and innovative thinking to global policy making. The International Law Research Program at CIGI is a 10-year initiative, jointly funded by CIGI and the Ministry of Research and Innovation of the Province of Ontario. As an integrated multidisciplinary research and mentoring program, the ILRP provides leading academics, government and private sector legal experts, as well as graduate students and post-doctoral candidates from Canada and abroad, with the opportunity to contribute to improving the global rule of law.

About IP Osgoode

Conceptualized & founded in 2008 by Prof Giuseppina D’Agostino, IP Osgoode, the Intellectual Property (IP) Law and Technology Program at Osgoode Hall Law School, is an independent and authoritative voice which explores legal governance issues at the intersection of intellectual property and technology. IP Osgoode cultivates interdisciplinary, comparative and transnational research, collaboration, policy-thinking and practice on the basis of a tight connection between teaching, research and clinical action. IP Osgoode has put Osgoode and 91��ɫ on the map in the global IP debate. We aim to influence the IP debate in Canada and internationally by educating our students and collaborating with the IP community in Canada and worldwide. Together, we have built an innovative program that is cutting-edge and completely unique to Osgoode.

Media Contacts:

Virginia Corner, Communications Manager, Osgoode Hall Law School of 91��ɫ, 416-736-5820, vcorner@osgoode.yorku.ca

Mary Taws, Communications Advisor, International Law Research Program, Centre for International Governance Innovation, 1-519-885-2444, ext. 7353, mtaws@cigionline.org

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