Top Row: John Heburn (CEO, Mitacs), Androu Waheeb (IP Innovation Clinic Fellow), Naseem Bawa (General Counsel, InteraXon Inc. Bottom Row: The Honourable Doug Downey (Minister of the Attorney General of Ontario), Prof Pina D'Agostino (Founder & Director of IP Osgoode), The Honourable Ross Romano (Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities)

Yesterday, the Government of Ontario formally announced their funding of thousands of student internships through Mitacs. The announcement was made during a press conference held by the Honourable Ross Romano, Minister of Colleges and Universities, and featured the Honourable Doug Downey, Attorney General of Ontario, and John Hepburn, CEO of Mitacs. As Principal Investigator of 3 projects in the inaugural year of Mitacs' Business Strategy Internship (BSI) Program, Prof Pina D’Agostino was also invited to be part of the festivities, along with Naseem Bawa, General Counsel for InteraXon Inc., and Androu Waheeb, 1L IP Innovation Clinic Fellow who will complete a BSI at InteraXon this summer.

Minister Romano announced that the Government has granted $39.5 million to Mitacs to fund internships that give students, post-doctoral researchers, and businesses more hands-on, real world experience in the field of their choice. Of the hundreds of internships offered across the country, roughly 100 are in their intellectual property stream.

Ministers Romano and Downey repeatedly stressed the importance of investing in Ontario IP rightsholders and empowering SMEs to take advantage of the intangible economy. In particular, Minister Romano pointed out that foreign entities take advantage of Ontario’s IP resources which remain inaccessible for local innovators. As such, this internship is not only an important investment for potential rightsholders, but also for students who will be business-owners commercializing IP and lawyers protecting their rights.

Mitacs CEO John Hepburn stressed the importance of this new collaboration in helping businesses to succeed at every stage of their journey. In the context of Mitacs’ goal of promoting growth and innovation in Canada, Mr. Hepburn introduced the goal of the BSI program: helping SMEs to address specific needs in order to pivot their businesses in response to the pandemic. In particular, because IP literacy is crucial in the early stages of a business, many student interns will offer valuable IP insight (with academic supervision) to help SMEs develop IP strategy in the initial stages of their business.

Prof D’Agostino spoke for the huge impact that this program will have on the students involved and the experience that it offers for them. After a quick but forceful plug for IP Innovation Clinic’s work in supporting IP strategy for SMEs to date, she highlighted our students’ growing need for employment opportunities like this. The combination of education with intention and work with grassroots organizations in turn empowers the Canadian economy.

Naseem Bawa briefly spoke about InteraXon Inc’s strategic IP investments protecting a wide range of their innovations, and the importance of protecting IP for small businesses. Businesses, according to Naseem, need a layered approach to IP that goes beyond registering it: they need support to enhance, protect, and strategically enforce their IP rights. This takes time and resources, but is critical for the future of both Canada and its companies, further stressing the impact of programs like this. Androu Waheeb rounded out the speakers, expressing his sincere gratitude for this opportunity and the ways in which it will prepare him to follow his dream of becoming an IP lawyer.

We would like to thank the Government of Ontario and Mitacs for supporting this program and our incredible students, whom we wish the best of luck in their internships!

The post Prof Pina D’Agostino & IP Osgoode featured in Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities Announcement appeared first on IPOsgoode.

I was looking forward to interning SOCAN for two main reasons. First, I was being given the opportunity to work on behalf of fellow musicians. When I was a professional musician, SOCAN was truly a lifeline.  Whenever I needed help, they always took the time to make sure any issues were taken care of; and since most of the money I generated through my music went straight to publishers, managers, and labels, SOCAN was the only place from which I actually received remuneration.  Second, I was going to get some much-needed real-world legal experience, including a rare opportunity to assist in preparing for the multiple upcoming hearings at the SCC that concerned communication to the public.

Although I was initially quite nervous, my first week at SOCAN went a long way to assuaging any fears I had due to my lack of experience.  Everyone I met was extremely helpful and welcoming; and they were happy to answer even the most naïve questions.  The legal department at SOCAN was actually smaller than I expected, and unusually calm considering the amount of cases they had coming up at the SCC.

I was mainly given research tasks during my time at SOCAN, and not all of it had to do with copyright or music.  In my time working with counsel there, I learned that the job of in-house counsel deals with many different areas of law.  Of course, I conducted legal research into various new proposed Tariffs, Bill C-11, and the upcoming SCC cases, but I also looked into such things as insurance contracts and corporate law.

I also worked on litigation files.  I not only had the opportunity to draft such things as Undertakings, Refusals and Statements of Claim, but I was also able to have in depth discussions about each task with the lawyers who assigned them to me.  The hands-on approach that this intensive made possible is a fantastic way to learn such things – working side by side with counsel in such a way is not possible in a classroom situation.  Every new assignment taught me more about what it is to be a lawyer, and each memo I wrote brought everything into sharper focus.

What really impressed me about SOCAN is how concerned they are with doing what is right. SOCAN is more interested in making legal access to music as easy as possible than it is in enforcing strict copyright regimes.  Most people who work there do so because they love music, and they genuinely want what is best both for creators and users.  Working with SOCAN on behalf of musicians and music users (for fair remuneration and easy legal access) was truly an honour for me.

I can easily say that interning at SOCAN was best experience of my Osgoode education so far.  It helped so much to prepare me for what it will be like once I am back in the “real” world.  Until the intensive, I found that law school had done little to prepare me for what the actual work of a lawyer was like, and my time at SOCAN went a long way to bringing the concept of working as a lawyer into focus.

Joshua Dallman is a JD student at Osgoode Hall Law School. Here, he reports on his experience at the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), while interning there as part of the inaugural offering of the (IP Intensive) at Osgoode.

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