We are pleased to announce details of the 2013 Intellectual Property Law and Technology Intensive Program. The tremendously successful program is currently in its third year, but it is continuing to grow. We are excited to announce the offering of three brand new placements for 2013, and the return of an excellent placement from the program's inaugural year.
We have a wonderful array of placement partners, from government agencies to media organizations, hi-tech companies, and innovation centres. For the Fall 2013 term, we have partnered with three brand new placement organizations: Apotex, Cobalt Pharmaceuticals Company (the Canadian subsidy of Actavis, Inc.) and CBC/Radio-Canada. We are also pleased to welcome the return of TVO from our inaugural year. Other IP intensive placement organizations include: Canadian Heritage, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Industry Canada (Copyright and International IP Policy Branch), the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), Stanford Centre for Legal Informatics (CodeX), The Globe and Mail, and VentureLAB.
The IP Intensive is a unique program that gives students practical, experiential education in a workplace setting for an entire term in lieu of being in the classroom. Our students gain valuable practical experience which will assist them in obtaining employment after law school, and some of our students' research in the program has been published in the Intellectual Property Journal (IPJ).
The IP Intensive begins with 2 weeks of class seminars, led by IP Intensive Students currently enrolled in the IP Intensive, which will feature presentations and workshops by experts prominent in the IP community. The seminars will cover a wide variety of topics, from “Trade-mark Prosecution” to “Intellectual Property Reform Process”, from “Biotechnology Focus: Pharma” to “Digital Media, Journalism, Freedom of Expression”. Our IP Intensive students will be interacting and engaging in stimulating discussions with the Chair of the Trade-marks Opposition Board, a senior policy analyst from Canadian Heritage (Copyright Policy Branch), counsel from the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner’s Office, in-house counsel and top executives from a broad range of industries, practitioners from the major Canadian law firms, academics and members of the judiciary. Then IP Intensive Student Interns will participate in an 11-week internship with one of our placement partners.
The program director for 2013 will be Professor David Vaver. Throughout the term, the students will be meeting with him periodically to discuss topics relating to intellectual property law, to share their experiences in the work environment, and to participate in a cross-pollination of ideas. The students will also be maintaining a reflective journal and blog on the IPilogue. They are also responsible to lead their own seminar presentations, which will occupy the wrap-up week of the course.
If you are interested in attending any of our sessions or participating as a placement, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me directly.
Giuseppina D’Agostino is the Founder and Director of IP Osgoode, an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, and the Founder of the IP Intensive.