The IP Innovation Program was established in 2019, to support the work of the IP Innovation Clinic, founded in 2010 by Prof Pina D’Agostino. The IP Innovation Clinic is a year-round, needs-based innovation-to-society intellectual property (IP) legal clinic operated in collaboration with Innovation York and supervising law firms Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, Bereskin & Parr LLP and Own Innovation. Under the guidance and mentorship of the Clinic Director, Clinic Associate Director, and supervising lawyers, law students provide one-to-one legal information services (not legal advice) to inventors, entrepreneurs, and start-up companies to assist with the commercialization processes. Through this hands-on practical experience, law students learn about common early-stage IP and business issues facing actors in the innovation ecosystem.
Under the IP Innovation Program rubric, students can work in the clinic for the academic year for course credit, under the supervision of the clinic director, lawyers, and the clinic coordinators. Enrolled students can continue their clinic work for the summer term on a volunteer basis.
Enrolled students spend approximately 6 hours/week throughout the year on client file-related work and clinical projects. The clinical work includes managing at least 2 client files, conducting intake meetings, performing prior art searches, reviewing patent specifications, performing freedom-to-operate and clearance searches, reviewing IP licensing transactions, assisting with preparing and filing provisional patent applications, drafting memos, and conducting legal research. In addition to client file-related work, enrolled students also work on clinical projects, such as providing IP awareness and education to the clinic clients and the community, including presentations and/or workshops about the basics of IP law, commercialization, licensing, IP strategy, etc.
In addition to working approximately 78 hours per semester on client file-related work and clinic projects, enrolled students attend pre-scheduled, mandatory 2-hour monthly seminars with the clinic director (and clinic coordinators and sometimes guests and/or participating supervising lawyers) and attend other informal meetings as necessary. The purpose of the seminars is to deepen the students’ understanding of IP in a practical context, the role of IP in commercialization, and IP skills and strategies. Students can also rotate on presenting and discussing assigned reading materials on select topics to enhance their collective learning and reflect on their clinical work in a wider community legal IP context.
Method of Evaluation:
· 20% of letter-grade to be awarded to Research and Writing
· 20% of letter-grade to be awarded for presentations
· 10% of letter-grade for seminar participation
· 50% of letter-grade based on clinical work evaluated on a credit/no-credit basis.