A workshop on Intellectual Property (IP) was held at George Brown College (GBC) on Feb. 13.
The workshop was facilitated by members of the Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (SONAMI) network, which GBC is a part of.
SONAMI, a Niagara College-led network of post-secondary institutions, who through their research and innovation centers, collaborates with small and medium sized companies to tackle manufacturing-related challenges.
Among the panelists at the workshop were industry experts, Richard Derham, senior manager of Research & Innovation at GBC; Michael Colucci, manager of Intellectual Property at Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON); Keith Morris, innovation manager at Canadian Down and Feather Co and; Pauline Walsh, industrial technology advisor at NRC-IRAP.
Intellectual property (IP) is a crucial asset for anyone and offers both protection from competitors and monetization for one’s products.
IP encompasses a wide range of creations under a few types.
Patents protect inventions, trademarks safeguard brands, copyrights cover artistic works, and trade secrets safeguard confidential information.
Each serves a unique purpose in protecting innovation.
To provide clarity on this subject, Jim Prendergast, commercialization specialist at SONAMI and an expert in IP Commercialization, shared insights into its significance.
“The unique thing about a patent is that it is legally enforceable. If you have a patent, then you have protection for whatever that idea is. And if anyone copies that you actually have a mechanism that you can go and tell them not to,” he explained. “Having the rights to your idea secured with a patent means that now you are holding something valuable. It is not something somebody can just copy.”
Once an invention is patented, others are unable to replicate the idea unless the patent owner has produced the item. After it is commercially available in the market, individuals can license the idea.
Prendergast provided the example of Blackberry. The company, originally known for its phones, became more focused on security, which has allowed the company to transform despite other more suited companies taking over the phone market.
“What BlackBerry still had was the secure transfer of data, the security part. The company is completely reborn. And it was all because they’ve held on to that core piece of IP on how to keep things secret that they were able to pivot away from being in the consumer market again into going into corporate support services,” said Prendergast. “You may not realize it, but you must have some kind of a competitive advantage even to operate it up in a small location. So, you must be doing something that nobody else is.”
Students can explore the complexities of IP commercialization with confidence, transform their ideas into tangible assets and secure their intellectual property rights, fostering an environment of creativity and progress by checking the organization’s website https://sonami.ca/
