11 replies to this topic

[nulspace]

Hello,

I'm just curious what the general consensus is on the two west-coast schools in regards to technology law (intellectual property, copyright, etc). I'm also considering many schools in Ontario, but I don't know much about the west-coast schools.

I realize that UVic is very strong in less technological subjects such as aboriginal law, however, I recently heard that they're trying to diversify their curriculum.

Thanks,

nul

[serdog]

UVIC, is quite strong in IP has been for a while

[Red]

UBC Law is home of the National Centre for Business Law and I believe it used to hold the Canada Research Chair in Intellectual Property Law.
http://www.law.ubc.c...2005_chair.html

Of interest: http://professormira...ed-faculty.html
http://www.law.ubc.ca/ncbl/index.html

[mikstew]

In my experience as a UBC law student interested in IP, I can tell you I have yet to run into a single IP/technology segment, interest group, focus, or even blip of attention. As far as I know, there is a single course on intellectual property law offered at the school. I have yet to take it. There is also only one prof that self identifies as "doing" patent law. I heard reference to a potential moot that could involve copyright sometime next year.

At some point in the past (perhaps distant past), there was an IP student group. It has since disbanded.

The professors in the article referred to above have either left UBC since the article was published, or are not associated with IP/technology law, with the exception of Joost Blom, who is the sole professor that teaches the course I mentioned above.

All in all, I would say there is very little in the way of anything related to IP at UBC.

I have no experience with offerings at UVic.

[Red]

No offence, but the above post is misleading.

mikstew, on 15 February 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

In my experience as a UBC law student interested in IP, I can tell you I have yet to run into a single IP/technology segment, interest group, focus, or even blip of attention.

To name a few IP talks in the month of February alone:

On Feb 8 at 12:30pm: "Multi-level Governance of Intellectual Property: Legal Issues in the Economic Integration of Canada and Europe" by Jeremy De Beer

On Feb 14 at 10:30am: "Regulating Intellectual Property and Biotechnology: A Case for Contrast or Convergence?" by Dr. Bita Amani

On Feb 14 at 12:30PM: "Regulating Intellectual Property and Biotechnology: A Case for Contrast or Convergence?" by Dr. Bita Amani

There was also one in November that I was planning to attend but didn't end up making it to: "Intellectual property and Climate Change: Inventing Clean Technologies" by Dr. Mathew Rimmer

mikstew, on 15 February 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

As far as I know, there is a single course on intellectual property law offered at the school.

Intellectual property is taught in many courses, but here is a list of upper year courses for 2011/2012 that have IP specifically mentioned in their course description. http://www.law.ubc.c...tion_report.pdf

Economic Analysis of Law
Topics in Legal History
Japanese Law
Biotechnology and the Law
Intellectual Property
Sports Law
Media & Entertainment Law
Corporate Solicitors' Workshop (IP is a prerequisite for this course)

I doubt other schools such as UVIC or even UofT (which is known for placing heavily on Bay St.) have substantively greater course offerings specifically in IP law. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that you'll more or less find a similar number of courses related to IP law at other institutions.

Also, UBC law offers an Upper Year Concentration in Business Law. I believe there is a listing of suggested courses for those interested in IP Law in the following link: Upper Year Business Law Concentration, UBC Faculty of Law

mikstew, on 15 February 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

The professors in the article referred to above have either left UBC since the article was published, or are not associated with IP/technology law, with the exception of Joost Blom, who is the sole professor that teaches the course I mentioned above.

Only one of the professors mentioned in the above article is not teaching at UBC anymore. All the others are still there and they all still teach courses that specifically deal with IP law. There are other profs that weren't mentioned in the above article that deal with IP. Off the top of my head: http://www.law.ubc.c...tter/index.html

Not to mention the plethora of adjunct professors that teach at UBC Law and specifically deal with IP Law.

mikstew, on 15 February 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

I heard reference to a potential moot that could involve copyright sometime next year.

I believe that UBC participates in an Intellectual Property Law Moot every year. The Oxford International Intellectual Property (OXIP) Moot: http://www.law.ubc.ca/moots/moots.html

I also believe that UBC Law has traditionally been the only Canadian law school invited to participate in the above moot. That being said, I think U of Ottawa might be participating in it this year as well.
More Info: http://www.law.ubc.ca/moots/index.html

mikstew, on 15 February 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

All in all, I would say there is very little in the way of anything related to IP at UBC.

For the above stated reasons, I respectfully disagree with you.

Edited by Mal, 19 February 2012 - 08:25 PM.

[Red]

Edit:

The Feb 14 at 12:30pm talk should be this: "Taking the Bite Out of Snow White's Apple: Intellectual Property Law's Contribution to Novel Food Regulation" by Dr. Bita Amani

[mikstew]

Course descriptions do not often accurately reflect course content. Furthermore, IP is a complex nuanced subject, and requires more than a cursory overview in a handful of courses. One would not take Sports Law to learn the rules of soccer just because it is mentioned in the course description. In fact, no intellectual property law education can be complete without having had an entire course on each of the 3 major facets: patents, trademarks, and copyrights. If you look around at other big law schools (especially those in the US), they all offer these courses at a minimum.

Another "top tier" law school offered eight IP-only courses just last year:

· COMPETITION LAW, AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (LAW579H1F) Ariel Katz
· INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: PATENT, COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK (LAW384H1F) Ariel Katz
· TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET LAW (LAW223H1F) Jonathan Daniels, Peter Ruby

·COPYRIGHT, TRADEMARK AND PATENT (LAW384H1S) Abraham Drassinower

· DIGITAL CONTENT AND ARTISTS INTERESTS (LAW450H1S) Aaron Sawchuk, Richard Owens
· GOVERNANCE OF PHARMACEUTICALS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT (LAW267H1S) Trudo Lemmens
· INTERNATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW (LAW389H1S) Pascale Chapdelaine
· PATENT AND TRADE SECRETS LAW (LAW332H1S) Donald Cameron and R. Scott MacKendrick

Each and every one of these courses is entirely dedicated to IP. Even the University of Ottawa offers 10 such courses, which another thirty that meet your criterion of being mentioned in the course description.

Both the University of Ottawa and Osgoode Hall offer specialized programs in IP where students complete an intern ship with IP professionals for credit.

Mcgill and Wester offer the triad of IP courses each year, along with several other more specialized courses.

Without offering the bare minimum, sadly UBC can't even play on the same field as the other top Canadian law schools.

Edited by mikstew, 04 March 2012 - 04:02 PM.

[Red]

One of the courses that you listed above has nothing to do with IP: GOVERNANCE OF PHARMACEUTICALS IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT


Please corroborate what you're saying. You've made a lot of claims but haven't backed them up with anything. You've only posted one school's course listings. For example, your claim that U of Ottawa has "10 such courses, which another thirty that meet your criterion of being mentioned in the course description" is totally FALSE. I haven't even bothered looking up the other schools.

Here is the U of Ottawa Law course listings: http://www.uottawa.c...ourses/CML.html
I see only four courses that have Intellectual Property or patent law in their description.

• Patent Law
  
• Introduction to Intellectual and Industrial Property
  
• Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals and Intellectual Property
  
• Regulation of Internet Commerce

I fail to see how you got "30" or even "10" from that. Seriously, how on earth did you get "30"???? And I believe one of U of Ottawa's strengths is listed as IP law.

I also, fail to see how US schools (also not backed up) are even remotely relevant when comparing Canadian schools. In fact, this thread is supposed to be a comparison between UVIC and UBC, yet you have not posted anything to show that UVIC has a better IP program. You've only posted misleading/false claims about other schools IP programs.

Also, if we're including digital law dealing with trademark and copyright then UBC has two other courses that you can add to the list:

• Topics in Law and Technology: Law of cyberspace
  
• Topics in Commercial Law: E-Commerce

Once again, lets not forget UBC's strength in business law.

Edited by Red, 04 March 2012 - 07:56 PM.

[mikstew]

le sigh. I have no interest in "lying" about schools' course offerings. Perhaps you should conduct more thorough research next time!
http://www.droittech...gy-courses.html

And for the love of god, stop quoting UBC's strength in business law! You sound like their misleading brochure. Business law does not equal intellectual property law.

Edited by mikstew, 06 March 2012 - 11:50 AM.

[Red]

First off, the majority of those courses have NOTHING to do with IP law or Patent law.

That being said, they would be relevant for someone that is more broadly interested in technology law. Just to be clear though, the OP was asking for a comparison between UVic and UBC.

Second, business law is relevant to IP law. And misleading? UBC is known for its strength in business law.

For the record, I would put much more fate in UBC's brochure than random forum posters (myself included).

Edited by Red, 06 March 2012 - 08:50 PM.

[Red]

*faith

[WanderingJD]

mikstew, on 15 February 2012 - 05:11 PM, said:

In my experience as a UBC law student interested in IP, I can tell you I have yet to run into a single IP/technology segment, interest group, focus, or even blip of attention. As far as I know, there is a single course on intellectual property law offered at the school. I have yet to take it. There is also only one prof that self identifies as "doing" patent law. I heard reference to a potential moot that could involve copyright sometime next year.

At some point in the past (perhaps distant past), there was an IP student group. It has since disbanded.

The professors in the article referred to above have either left UBC since the article was published, or are not associated with IP/technology law, with the exception of Joost Blom, who is the sole professor that teaches the course I mentioned above.

All in all, I would say there is very little in the way of anything related to IP at UBC.

I have no experience with offerings at UVic.

As a former UBC law student, I concur mostly with this. There's a bit of IP stuff at UBC, but not really a lot.

Here's the thing with IP law and most other specialties - you don't learn ANYTHING about how that stuff really works in law school. If you want to be an "IP lawyer", you need to get hired by a firm that handles a lot of IP law and get funnelled into that practice area. Vancouver would probably be better for that than Victoria.