Celebrating World Intellectual Property Day
Events April 20 - 24, 2009 at U of T
Insulin, the Nike swoosh, your thesis—all of these are things that benefit from intellectual property protection. Meant to reward individuals for their efforts for new creations in the areas of technology and culture, the intellectual property system helps strike a balance between the interests of innovators and the public, providing an environment in which creativity and invention can flourish.
What does this matter to you? What do copyrights, patents, industrial designs or trademarks have to do with how you live your life? Well, without intellectual property rights, many new technologies developed to tackle global problems, and provide entertainment in our lives, would never see the light of day.
Celebrated yearly on April 26, World Intellectual Property Day was established in 2001 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to “raise awareness of the role of intellectual property in our daily lives, and to celebrate the contribution made by innovators and artists to the development of societies across the globe.” It is a day to pay tribute to the inventors and artists who enrich our existence with the fruits of their innovative thoughts and creative vision.
To mark the importance of intellectual property at the University of Toronto, the Innovations Group has organized a series of lunchtime talks in the week leading up to World IP day. Taking place from noon to 1 p.m. each day feel free to drop in and learn about Intellectual Property issues at U of T:
Monday, April 20 Forming Industrially Funded Research Consortia
Galbraith Bldg, Room 202 (Council Room)
Whether you have a single project or a number of collaborators working in an area, Industrial Research Consortia is a technique to fund the research. This session will cover issues you need to consider when setting up a consortium including the circumstances where they work best, how to share confidential information among the parties and the methods for dealing with the research outputs.
Tuesday, April 21 What is an Invention and who is an Inventor?
Medical Sciences Building, Room 3287
The terms Invention and Inventors are easy to define but can be difficult to recognize when you have created an invention or who actually is an inventor. This session will discuss the concepts of inventions and inventorship both under patent law and the University’s inventions policy.
Wednesday, April 22 I invented something, now what? Moving technology from the lab to the marketplace.
Physical Sciences – Lash Miller Labs, Room LM 123
Medical Sciences – Medical Sciences Building, Room 3287
Info and Communication Technology – Bahen Centre, Room 2135
You have created the next best thing since sliced bread—now what? These sessions will give you the tools to help you recognize when you have created something worth commercializing and the roadmap for taking it to market.
Thursday, April 23 Distributing Your Research Tools
Faculty of Social Work, Room SK 54
Survey instruments, materials, software—in the course of their research U of T researchers create numerous tools that can be helpful to other researchers or practitioners. Come to this session and hear about Flintbox, an online system for distributing these tools out to the research community.
Friday, April 24 Open Source/Open Access and the role of Intellectual Property in the University context
Bahen Centre, Room 2135
Should universities even be in the business of intellectual property? As academic institutions should we be “giving it away for free?” Come to this round table session to hear views on open source and open access in the Univeristy research context.
Hope there will be a similar string of activities for Open Access week.