Important IPIC Update Regarding COVID-19 Changes and Preparedness

Over the last couple of weeks, IPIC has been monitoring the situation with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in order to determine the best course of action for our organization and protecting our membership. There are several variables at play, but recent public health advice to make organizational decisions towards social distancing to flatten the curve and spread of the virus have led to some new developments. Much of the IPIC programs and service offerings are already virtual, and will therefore continue without issue. However, IPIC is also entering into a period of the year (March and April) with many in-person meetings and gatherings scheduled. For that reason, the following recent decisions have been taken:

• IPIC will be postponing the upcoming President’s Tour meetings in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Montreal until further notice. If you have already registered, you will be contacted by your Informals city Chair about rescheduling or refund options. 

• The annual World IP Day Reception on Parliament Hill scheduled for April 1, 2020 will be cancelled. 

• We have cancelled a Hill Lobbying Day planned for IPIC Council members on March 31, 2020.
 
• The travel arrangements for the IPIC Council meeting set for April 1, 2020 in Ottawa have been cancelled, however the meeting will now take place at the same date and time through videoconferencing software.

• IPIC staff have been instructed to deploy and make use of work from home remote access arrangements from business continuity plans if they feel in any way ill, or exhibit any signs or symptoms of a cold, flu, or common symptoms of the coronavirus.

• It has been announced that the House of Commons and other Parliamentary Activity has been suspended until April 20th. For that reason, IPIC has suspended all lobbying activity by staff and member volunteers until further notice. 

• For group webinar registrations, we are relaxing our policy so that participants within your group can make use of the webinar link individually, as long as the total number of participants is within the group size registered. 

• Our event and seminar on May 11th in partnership with CIPA, AI, Biotechnology and Intellectual Property: a UK Perspective, will still tentatively be held as we are in discussions with CIPA's leadership team on the joint COVID-19 response to the event.

• As of today, IPIC continues to move forward with a planned meeting with CIPO CEO Johanne Belisle to discuss business issues related to the work of IPIC and CIPO. IPIC plans to discuss planning issues related to the work of the IP office during this period of uncertainty. 

Should you have any questions or concerns, we encourage you to contact IPIC’s staff at admin@ipic.ca.

Thank you and stay well,

The IPIC Team