Canada’s latest update to its intellectual property strategy is a welcome detour when we consider the overall positive impact it’s likely to have on the community as a whole. Essentially, Canada’s latest IP strategy is about spreading true literacy around the entire functionality of IP and making sure a diverse audience receives the knowledge. To help government agencies achieve the task, the government has invested a sum of $88.3 million. The key beneficiaries of such a move are likely to be businesses, entrepreneurs, and innovators that better need to utilise IP. Let’s understand more about Canada’s new IP strategy from an IP lawyer’s perspective.
Innovation, IP, and Business – The Oneness
Honorary Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of Canada’s Chamber of Commerce, elaborated on the correlation between the need to understanding IP, the needs of the business community, and necessary innovation as he outlined “This new IP strategy acknowledges the concerns raised by the business community. By removing barriers to innovation, creating a business portal and strengthening the rules around the use of IP, the government is supporting businesses of all sizes that depend on their intellectual property to compete on the global stage,”A key missing area that the new strategy intends to address is the often neglected intellectual property commercialisation, which was always lagging despite the quality of research Canada is revered for. The government, to its credit, has rightly established the connection between the role of innovation (which, as per IP lawyers, is not beneficial without adequate IP protection) and growth of the economy. Without a thriving economy, we won’t have enough jobs to sustain us.
Suite of Seminars
Since literacy about IP is central to Canada’s new IP strategy, it’s only natural that a suite of seminars is underway to educate various segments of the Canadian workforce. In a move to better aid innovators, the federal employees who deal with matters that concern governance and legalities around IP will also be better educated about IP. Businesses struggling gain ground in the often harsh world of IP will also be provided with the necessary tools that they need in order to better formulate an effective intellectual property strategy. And finally, the strategy culminates in the creation of a greater ‘Patent Collective’. The patent collective is a system that allows interested firms and entities to have access to a larger pool of patents, which is supposed to aid them through the power of their shared resources. However, it remains to be seen what impact a patent collective would have in the long run, some are skeptical.The correlation between holding formal intellectual property and innovation (and subsequent growth) has been already established at this stage, and that’s the core reason why the government is eager to promote literacy regarding IP. Firms and innovators who have queries about the implications of such an IP strategy would do well to contact our expert IP lawyers at Prowse Barrette (Previously Prowse Chowne).