Prof. Carys Craig is the Director of IP Osgoode, Editor-in-Chief of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Academic Director of the Osgoode Professional LL.M Program in Intellectual Property, and an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.
I am delighted to be writing my first IPilogue post as incoming Director of IP Osgoode! I would like to begin by thanking the whole IP Osgoode team, community, and partners for their warm welcome.
It is both exciting and daunting to step into the shoes of IP Osgoode’s Founder and outgoing Director, my colleague and friend Prof. Pina D’Agostino, whose creative energy and vision have been the driving force behind IP Osgoode since 2008. Under her leadership, IP Osgoode has become a key voice on intellectual property law and technology issues, forging fruitful relationships with academics, legal professionals, policymakers, and industry actors, while offering wonderfully rich learning opportunities to our students and graduate researchers.
With Prof. D’Agostino now at the helm of York University’s newly launched Centre for AI and Society (CAIS), we are looking forward to collaborating on interdisciplinary initiatives at the intersection of AI and IP in our new respective roles!
While I am indeed new to the Director role at IP Osgoode, I was a founding member at its inception and have participated in many of its events and initiatives over the years. I have been teaching and researching in intellectual property law at Osgoode since joining the faculty in 2002 and have served as Academic Director of Osgoode’s Professional LLM in IP law since 2009. In other words, I am very well acquainted with all things Osgoode and IP!
Looking ahead, I am keen to bring my experience and passions to this new position. I take special delight in guiding our excellent students to grow as researchers, editors, and emerging thought-leaders—a role I have relished as Editor-in-Chief of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal and will now embrace as Editor-in-Chief of the IPilogue. I am a big believer in the creative potential of collaboration and the discursive exchange of ideas, and so I look forward to hosting the IP Osgoode Speaks Series, workshops, and conferences on pressing issues in IP and technology policy. As a former Associate Dean of Research & Institutional Relations, I am committed to strengthening our institution’s research focus and scholarly networks, and so I am keen to foster IP Osgoode’s existing connections and to forge new ones. And as a proponent of consultative, evidence-based policymaking, I am excited to continue supervising Osgoode student teams for the Federal Government’s Copyright Policy Moot, as well as helping to craft and coordinate joint statements from Canadian IP Scholars. Above all, though, I am passionate about nurturing new viewpoints and diverse voices in these critical conversations. This is an aspiration that has been, and will remain, central to IP Osgoode’s mission.
Over these past twenty years, IP and technology law has emerged as a hugely important area of law which requires an ever-growing need for expertise and thoughtful advice. In today’s dynamic digital environment, new challenges arise every day, throwing established systems and rules into flux. With a plethora of policy issues to be tackled—from generative AI to intermediary liability, copyright term extension to unused trademark registrations, and controversial new bills in Canada on online news and broadcasting—the field shows no sign of slowing down.
At Osgoode, our IP offerings have grown over time to meet this challenge. When I was hired, I was the lone faculty member in the field, stepping into the shoes of my venerable colleague Professor David Vaver. Prof. Vaver has since returned to the Osgoode fold, of course—an IP & Technology Law faculty that now boasts Professors Pina D’Agostino, Ikechi Mgbeoji, Saptarishi Bandopadhyay, Jon Penny, and our most recent technology law recruit, Canada Research Chair in Innovation Law & Society, Valerio de Stefano. With these inspiring colleagues, our dedicated IPilogue editors and writers, our fearless Assistant Director Ashley Moniz, and an incredible network of advisors, supporters, and collaborators, I’m excited to see what’s in store for the IP Osgoode team—and thrilled play this part in making it happen!