Want to hear from your fellow students what its like to work in intellectual property?  Then join the TIP group in FLA at 12:30pm on Wednesday, February 3.  Our panel will consist of students who have had IP work experience at a boutique, a full-service firm, as a research assistant or as part of an internship, as well as in other cities.

When: Wed, Feb 3 at 12:30pm
Where: FLA

Lunch will be provided.  Accordingly, please RSVP to sie.tjew@utoronto.ca so that we have an idea of how much food to order.

The Canadian IT Law Association (IT.Can) is sponsoring a student writing competition to encourage scholarship from full-time law students and articling students with an interest in information technology law. The winner will be selected and announced at the Annual Canadian IT Law Association Conference. The winner will be awarded a cash prize of $1500.receive complimentary registration and travel, room and board expenses to attend the Annual Canadian IT Law Association Conference and be considered for publication in the Canadian Journal of Law and Technology.

For more information see the competition poster.

The second event in the Osler Speaker Series will take place Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 12:30pm in FLC.

Cloud computing services (e.g., Hotmail, Google Docs, Flickr) accept your data and store it on their computers so that users can access it from anywhere. What legal implications does this have for the services and their users? Simon Hodgett (Oslers) will be speaking about issues related to cloud computing including risk management and contractual practices. Lunch will be served. RSVP: tip@tipgroup.ca

The TIP Group is happy to announce the following firm tours:

Bereskin & Parr
Date: Tuesday, November 10 from 12:30 to about 2pm, lunch will be provided.

Smart & Biggar
Date: Wednesday, November 18 at 5:15pm, food is usually provided.

It is open to ALL students.  A tour of Gowlings is currently in the works, likely for January.  Please RSVP for both events, as space is limited.  And please provide the information requested by the firms:

1.  Educational background – ie. MSc in organic chemistry
2.  Any particular topic of interest?
3.  Any food allergies?

More details to come, such as where to meet, how to dress, etc.

Each of the executives discussed a set of events that they will be running this year. If you have suggestions or questions, you can contact them by email.

Sie Tjew is organizing firm tours. The plan is to visit two IP boutiques and the IP department of one full-service firm. The list is not finalized. It is possible that all three tours may be in a single day. He requests that first-years interested email him with their opinions.

There will be five Osler speakers this year. The dates and topics are not set. We may also host additional speakers outside the Osler series If you have any topic requests, please contact Rebecca Rodal. Some suggestions were telecommunications, copyright reform and internet law. Past topics have included Trademarks 101, net neutrality, and IP litigation.

The TIP Group is launching an IP blog. We are looking for two groups of volunteers. The small first group will be responsible for finding interesting news and blog articles to report on the website. The second group will contribute a few articles of approximately 500 words (two doublespaced pages) over the course of the year. The articles will cover a recent news item or concept in IP law. It’s a great opportunity. Email Billy Barnes if you’re interested.

The TIP conference is a series of talks on a theme in IP law given over a week or in a single day. We need volunteers to help organize and run the event. Contact Jean Lee to volunteer.

We are interested in joining the Fox IP moot next year, but we need to get started this year. If you are interested in IP and mooting, please email Fereshteh Ghadyani.

Following the TIP Group online is easier than ever before. We have launched a new website, a mailing list, and a public calendar. And there is more to come.

The new website was designed by Jean Lee and Billy Barnes. It will feature a variety of content including announcements of events held by the TIP Group and other IP related events. If you miss an event, check our website afterwards for a recap. You can subscribe to updates using an RSS reader (try Google Reader, NetNewsWire for Mac, FeedDemon for Windows) or by email.

You can sign up for our mailing list on the site’s main page to receive event notices and (eventually) our newsletter. The mailing list is hosted by Google Groups, but you do not need to sign up for an account to receive it.

Finally, you can subscribe to our public calendar to have upcoming TIP Group events show up automatically in your own calendar program.

We hope that these services will be helpful and that we will see many of you at our events this year.

IP Osgoode is holding an all-day conference on Friday, September 18, 2009. The title of the conference is “The Intellectual Property Bargain: Consumer Perspectives in a Global Economy”. The conference features presentations by six professors including Ariel Katz who teaches IP and competition law at UofT. The conference will close with a panel discussion and Q&A. If you can make it out, it should be very interesting. The conference is free to all and lunch will be served. You must RSVP by September 16 to attend. Visit the conference website for more information.

If you’re interested in learning more about the TIP group. We will be having a “Welcome to TIP Group” meeting on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 12:30pm in FLC. The meeting will cover our planned events for the year and how you can become involved in the TIP Group. We hope to see you there.

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The Technology and Intellectual Property (TIP) Group is a group of law students who are interested in intellectual property, biotechnology, information technology and law. Throughout the year, the TIP Group hosts seminars with practicing lawyers who speak about the latest developments in technology and intellectual property law. Other events include field trips to law firms specializing in intellectual property law and the annual IP conference which attracts lawyers, industry professionals and academics. Past conference themes have included IP rights in virtual space, MP3 technology, the human genome, censorship and privacy, compulsory licensing in the pharmaceutical industry and extra-territorial intellectual property issues. Interested? Look for our booth during Orientation Week.

Also check back for updates to this website including announcements of IP-related events at the University of Toronto. We plan to have the new TIP website running before classes begin.

The 2009-2010 TIP Executive

Billy Barnes: billy.barnes@tipgroup.ca

Fereshteh Ghadyani: fereshteh.ghadyani@tipgroup.ca

Jean Lee: jeanj.lee@tipgroup.ca

Rebecca Rodal: rebecca.rodal@tipgroup.ca

Sie Tjew: sie.tjew@tipgroup.ca