Government of Canada launches Intellectual Property Strategy

From: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

News release

Canada’s Intellectual Property Strategy will boost middle-class jobs and help our innovators compete on the global stage

April 26, 2018, Ottawa ON

Intellectual property is a key component of an innovation economy. It helps Canadian innovators reach commercial success, further discovery and create middle-class jobs by protecting their ideas and ensuring they reap the full rewards of their inventions and creations.

That is why the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, launched Canada’s Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy today at the Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards in Ottawa.

Canada’s IP Strategy will help Canadian entrepreneurs better understand and protect intellectual property and also get better access to shared intellectual property. Canada is a leader in research, science, creation and invention, but it can do more when it comes to commercializing innovations.

The IP Strategy will help give businesses the information and confidence they need to grow their business and take risks.

The IP Strategy will make changes in three key areas:

LEGISLATION

  • The IP Strategy will amend key IP laws to ensure that we remove barriers to innovation, particularly any loopholes that allow those seeking to use IP in bad faith to stall innovation for their own gain.
  • The IP Strategy will create an independent body to oversee patent and trademark agents, which will ensure that professional and ethical standards are maintained, and will support the provision of quality advice from IP professionals.

LITERACY AND ADVICE

  • As part of the IP Strategy, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office will launch a suite of programs to help improve IP literacy among Canadians.
  • The IP Strategy includes support for domestic and international engagement between Indigenous people and decision makers as well as for research activities and capacity building.
  • The IP Strategy will also support training for federal employees who deal with IP governance.

TOOLS

  • The IP Strategy will provide tools to support Canadian businesses as they learn about IP and pursue their own IP strategies.
  • The government is creating a patent collective to bring together businesses to facilitate better IP outcomes for members. The patent collective is the coming together of firms to share in IP expertise and strategy, including gaining access to a larger collection of patents and IP. 

Taken together, these measures, along with the Innovation and Skills Plan, will help Canadian innovators maximize the value of their creations and enhance further innovation from coast to coast to coast.

Quotes

“We know IP is a critical ingredient in helping Canadian businesses reach commercial success. Canada’s IP Strategy will make sure Canadians know the value of their intellectual property and how to leverage it to innovate, increase profits and create middle-class jobs.”
– The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

“Minister Bains has been a tireless champion of innovative Canadian companies, and I’m delighted that, under his leadership, ISED put in place this most significant pillar for an innovation strategy. Raising sophisticated domestic capacity in IP ensures Canada will improve the commercialization of our ideas globally.”
– Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of Research in Motion and Chair of the Council of Canadian Innovators

“Minister Bains has followed through on Budget 2017’s commitment to implement practical and important reforms to the Canadian IP system. The IP Strategy will strengthen the position of Canadian innovators to develop made-in-Canada technology and marketing strategies. The investment made in the federal government’s IP Strategy in IP education and standard setting, as well as the revision of Canadian IP laws to create a level and competitive playing field for Canadian firms, delivers on the federal government’s promises to advance innovation in Canada for the benefit of Canadian firms, employees and consumers. The Pilot Patent Collective offers an innovative response to the need to keep patents available to Canadian firms. The pilot is carefully designed, is open to all and allows the market to determine what is valuable. The fact that this is a pilot will allow the community to evaluate results and, if proven successful, to expand on it in future years. I am delighted to see that the federal government is providing support to Indigenous communities to help shape Canadian and international rules around not only the protection of their culture and genetic resources, but in increasing their involvement in the innovation economy in a way that is respectful and protective of their values and culture.”
– Dr. Richard Gold, Professor of Law, McGill University

Quick facts

  • Small and medium-sized businesses that hold formal IP are:

    • three times more likely to engage in product innovation than those without IP,
    • two times more likely to engage in other types of innovation,
    • four times more likely to export, and
    • 64 percent more likely to be high growth. 

  • IP-intensive businesses pay 16 percent more, on average, than businesses with little or no IP.

  • Businesses using IP in patent-intensive industries have about 8 to 10 times more revenues than those not using IP.

Associated links

Contacts

Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on Twitter: @ISED_CA

Contacts

Karl W. Sasseville
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development
343-291-2500

Media Relations
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
343-291-1777
ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca

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