OCC calls for tougher IP protection

The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) wants a tough-on-crime approach to intellectual property rights (IPR), saying Canada's poor track record is stifling innovation and competitiveness in the province. In a report released December 3, the business lobby calls on both the Ontario and federal governments for more crime-fighting resources, stricter laws and longer jail time to curb internet piracy, trademark counterfeiting and other infringements of IPR.

The report, Protection of Intellectual Property: A Case for Ontario, suggests that government investments do little to stimulate increased R&D and commercialization unless entrepreneurs are confident that their creations are protected when they reach the marketplace. In Ontario, it says the Ministry of Research and Innovation's commitment of $1.7 billion over five years is not translating into increased innovation.

"According to the ICP (Institute of Competitiveness and Prosperity), a solid measure of a region's innovative capacity and processes is patenting. When compared to US peer jurisdictions, Ontario's patent per output is 55 per cent lower," the report states. "Ontario must do more to stimulate increased demand for patents and other intellectual property such as copyrights, trademarks and industrial design rights."

Canada's S&T Strategy highlights the need for a modern IP regime as being "critical for researchers and creators, whose ability to commercialize the fruit of their labour is directly linked to the protection provided by patent and copyright laws." The Strategy also states that Canada needs to maintain IP legislation that is competitive with its trading partners to attract venture capital and intellectual capital.

The OCC contends that Canada "does not have an effective IPR protection strategy", and questions whether existing laws and mechanisms even meet the basic obligations contained in the World Trade Organization's agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property.

The OCC report recommends the creation by the federal and provincial governments of an IP crime task force and an IP inter-ministerial coordination council, and stronger federal laws to protect IP.

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