On April 26, 2021, the theme of World IP Day 2021 is “”. Since I founded the IP Innovation Clinic in 2010, the Clinic has helped countless innovators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses to do exactly that. Our students have provided basic legal information to clients who otherwise would not have any access to it. To date, the Clinic has subsidized over $2,000,000CDN of legal fees that would otherwise have been paid by those without access to resources. This past year, the Clinic has expanded its impact through the recently launched , a free legal chatbot which uses a vast database of credible IP information to answer users’ initial IP questions and guide them to the type of legal help they need. This is only the beginning of the ChatBot’s story.

In a critical time of Covid-19 isolation, I aim to ensure that the IP Innovation ChatBot’s content is accessible and attuned to the unique realities of underrepresented communities in Canada’s intellectual property (IP) innovation ecosystem; namely, women and indigenous peoples. Having assisted clients in these underrepresented groups in the IP Innovation Clinic, and through my own research and writing in this area, I have seen first-hand the distinct struggles these groups confront in the traditional IP innovation ecosystem and the distinct challenges they face to bring their innovations to society; from being silenced in their ideation phase to lacking adequate resources and know-how to develop IP strategies attuned to their unique needs and perspectives.

This AI-powered initiative has been launched thanks to the Canadian government’s , and supports its mandate to increase IP awareness and education by making IP information more accessible. These learnings can easily be applied to other areas of the law.

The ChatBot has been realized due to visionary IP Innovation Clinic champions backing our work, Innovation 91ŃÇÉ« at 91ŃÇÉ«, Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) at the very outset and Bergeron Entrepreneurs Science and Technology (BEST) Program at Lassonde School of Engineering and Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) Canada LLP. Indeed, the technical and legal expertise of Partner, Maya Medeiros, and Al Hounsell at NRF, and our Osgoode JD team of students led by Ryan Wong, class of 2021. It is also an honour to work closely with other leaders in the federal government such as the Konstantinos Georgaras, CEO (Interim) at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) and Jennifer Miller, Erin Campbell and their teams at Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), who understand and work hard to overcome the challenges Canadian innovators face.

I previously uncovered the various challenges that underrepresented communities face in the IP innovation system and how grassroots initiatives, such as IP legal clinics, can assist in and in more recent work to use the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to build an IP Innovation ChatBot to make IP law more accessible. Going forward, I plan to expand on this foundational and empirical work to build the IP Innovation Clinic and the ChatBot to make the IP innovation ecosystem more accessible.

Ultimately, in an era of increasing technological disruption and lingering societal inequality and pandemic isolation, I hope to influence future legal education and make our justice system accessible to all Canadians.

Indeed, AI applications, including legal chatbots, use machine learning to make the law more understandable, manageable, useful, accessible, predictable, and efficient. Legal chatbots increase access to justice through their wider reach and lower costs. Many underrepresented communities receive either inadequate or no legal help at all. Technology currently cannot provide complex legal advice, but AI-powered online legal services can cost-effectively deliver accessible, basic legal help. Some, like our IP Innovation ChatBot, do so for free. Chatbots can thus democratize access to basic legal services for the underserved, and therefore deserve greater study and adoption.

Since its January 29, 2021 launch, the IP Innovation ChatBot has been a magnet for public use. Several members of the legal community have already inquired to learn how to emulate it. With the information from these analyses, I plan to design and build an enhanced, interactive, dynamic, and accessible portal powered by next-generation artificial intelligence operating on big data curated by our pioneering IP Innovation ChatBot.

The ChatBot will remain a free, sophisticated, and smart online tool, driven by AI and designed to cater to underrepresented and disenfranchised innovators. It will soon house key IP resources and information, leading updates, and links to Canadian and international government IP resources. The ChatBot’s scaled-up national platform will analyse its amassed archive of data and identify common IP knowledge translation problems to devise and anticipate solutions. Adapted for the COVID-19 era and beyond, the ChatBot will support the next generation of lawyers, educate and stimulate innovation from underrepresented communities, provide start-up entrepreneurs with access to IP resources, and be the public’s go-to tool for independent and impartial IP knowledge.

Prof Pina D’Agostino is Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and Founder and Director of IP Osgoode, the IPilogue, the IP Innovation Clinic, and officially since January 2021 the recently launched IP Innovation Clinic ChatBot.

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Previous roles within the federal government have included various responsibilities at the Privy Council Office, including economic and social policy analysis and advice to Cabinet, as well as leadership of the policy innovation agenda.  Jennifer also spent several years at ESDC, where she worked on various files related to post-secondary education and student financial assistance.

1. Why did you choose a career in IP?

 I don’t focus exclusively on IP, but it has featured heavily in most of my work for the past decade.  I find IP issues particularly compelling because they require both strategic thinking and deep technical expertise, and because they cut across every group that my department serves: researchers, creators, and entrepreneurs in every sector. 

2. What is a “must read” IP article/book?

 I am lucky in that I do most of my IP learning through conversation with experts and people who are passionate about the field.  They offer me the opportunity to ask questions and engage on topics of specific interest, which is most helpful in exposing me to a variety of different perspectives and giving me the chance to test my own thinking. My twitter feed is also fairly crowded with recommended reading—online posts, articles and exchanges help to keep me up to speed in real time.

3. Why should a prospective law student consider a career in IP?

Canada and Canadians deserve to make the most of the intellectual property they generate, and to use it in strategic ways that benefit their research, businesses and other interests.  As the economy of intangibles continues to grow, awareness of the potential value of IP will only increase, and the opportunities to support its generation, protection and use will grow along with it.  For those of us who are naturally curious, IP also offers great opportunities to undertake a professional practice in a growing area while learning a lot about scientific or industrial topics and trends you might not otherwise encounter, which can hold your interest over the course of a full career.

4. What is the name of a mentor that has guided you in your career (and how)?

Graham Flack, currently the Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Development Canada, has had a huge impact on my leadership style and my approach to decision-making.  He gave me the space to develop and move on my own agenda in a policy area that meant a lot to me, and the opportunity to rise to that level of trust taught me a lot about my own abilities and the areas where I want to develop.  It also gave me a great example to follow in providing that same agency to folks on my own team, and trying to find the spots in the work where direction and guidance can add value.

5. What are the key substantive IP challenges that are faced in Canada and abroad that you would like to see more attention paid to?

We need to continue to support our SMEs in valuing their IP assets and using them strategically.  As a nation of SMEs, we need to ensure that they’re on the strongest possible competitive footing, and that includes approach to IP. I would also love to see more businesses exploring open IP models, where it makes sense for them.

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