Industry Committee on May 10th, 2012

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Has one ever been discussed or contemplated, or is the court system pretty well de facto the way everybody wants to go?

[Gerard Peets]

It's consistent with the idea that the frameworks are all national.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you very much, Mr. Peets.

We'll go to Madam LeBlanc for five minutes.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Laporte, I believe you said you had notes on the round tables you are holding. Would it be possible to provide those notes to the committee members?

[Sylvain Laporte]

Yes, they are being prepared.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Very well.

You say they are being prepared. I am talking about what you have done so far. When would it be possible to get them? They would give us some valuable information that could inform our study.

[Sylvain Laporte]

May I make a suggestion? We are going to wrap things up in late June. At that point, we could submit not only the notes from each round table, but also the report, provided that late Jane fits your timeline, of course.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Thank you. That would be greatly appreciated.

Canada is in the midst of negotiating free-trade agreements all over the world. I want to talk comparisons. This may be more suited to Mr. Peets, but perhaps Mr. Laporte could provide some clarification as well.

On one hand, you have the European Union, which has some rather significant IP legislation, and on the other hand, you have Asia-Pacific. You said that China is really starting to enter the whole IP realm, but in a very different way. What are the concerns when it comes to intellectual property and free-trade agreements, first of all with Europe, and then if there's time, with Asia-Pacific? Furthermore, what impact could those negotiations have on Canada's IP regime?

[Gerard Peets]

I can begin with that one. International negotiations are led by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. In the context of negotiations that are ongoing, I can't really talk about that.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Can you tell me what your feelings are about our industry being able to compete in these different IP regimes?

I'll let you finish what you were saying. I interrupted you.

[Gerard Peets]

In the NAFTA, for example, there is an IP chapter. Within the context of the Canada-EU scoping agreement, which you can find on the DFAIT website, IP is in the joint report that both countries did at the outset to say, “This is what we're talking about”.

There's an interest that flows back to the WTO as well. There's an interest amongst trading nations. You know, companies are global, and trade could be supported by greater alignment of IP regimes amongst countries. So that's something that gets picked up commonly now in bilateral trade agreements that involve not only Canada but other countries.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

How is the industry department preparing industry in this global regime as concerning IP? Are there plans to help industry compete in these new trade markets, if I may say so?

[Gerard Peets]

As part of its work, when the Department of Foreign Affairs is considering a trade agreement it goes out and asks Canadian businesses what they are looking for and what their concerns are. It builds that in. Then the Department of Industry—in particular where I'm situated, which is the policy function for IP—works very closely with our other departments and DFAIT to understand how things are evolving into support negotiations.

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

What are the feelings of the small and medium-size enterprises about those trade talks, and how are they preparing for them?

[Gerard Peets]

I'm trying to recall if the Canadian Federation of Independent Business has made a statement on this. In fact, I cannot recall right now, but that would be what I would look for.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

That's all the time you have, Madam LeBlanc. It's right on five minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Peets.

Now on to Mr. Braid as the final questioner.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Just to follow up with some points for clarification, Mr. Laporte, and to come back to a previous conversation, you mentioned an 18-month period of confidentiality. Could you just clarify that and what the purpose of the confidentiality period is?

[Sylvain Laporte]

When an application is submitted to us, it describes the invention in great detail and it makes claims with respect to what the rights should be, so all of that information, all of that package, is not made public. We keep it in our databases, locked tight, and we will not make it public until the 18-month clock has run out.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Why? What's the purpose of the cloak, if you will?

[Sylvain Laporte]

That's a good question. It's probably one of those 1950s things that predates most of us.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

You mentioned four universities in the country that represent some of the top 20—

[Sylvain Laporte]

The top 20 filers, yes.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

You mentioned York University. What are the other three universities?

[Sylvain Laporte]

York is a university I visited last week.