CIPO Call for Volunteers - Webinars

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is currently looking for interested members of the IPIC to participate in their December 2025 and January 2026 national webinars. The exact days for each month are to be confirmed with the guest speakers and CIPO. Usually, the French webinar is held on the Tuesday at 1:00 pm. Eastern time, and the equivalent English webinar on the next day (Wednesday) at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Each webinar is scheduled to last 60 minutes, with 30 minutes of discussion with a CIPO moderator and their guests, followed by a Q&A session.

December 2025

• Title: Trademarks Explained: From Legal Rules to Business Decisions

• Theme: Participants will learn how trademark strategies support their business goals both legally and practically.

• Proposed Approach: Two IPIC members in French and two IPIC members in English.

This webinar will cover

• Different trademark strategies from a legal standpoint:

  • when to register trademarks from a practical and strategic standpoint

  • when and why to avoid similar trademarks even when in different industries

  • how to be creative with domain name protection

• How good trademark strategies increase the value of your company

January 2026

• Title: IP Tips for Tech Startups

• Theme: Tech and IP: Navigating software, apps, and AI challenges.

• Proposed Approach: AI company founder with an IPIC member Ideally, the IPIC member could suggest one of their clients. Either same company/IPIC member for both the French and English webinars, or a different company/IPIC member combination.

This webinar will cover:

• Copyright and trade secret for computer code.

• Trade secret for AI.

• When to consider patents for software, apps and AI.

• Industrial design for user interface.

• Trademark and copyright for branding/marketing (securing brands before public product launch).

For more information, please contact Loreto Lamb, Director of Partnerships at llamb@ipic.ca