Know your IP: Patents and Copyright

Wednesday, January 26
1:00 - 3:00 pm
Robert Sutherland Hall Room 240

Speakers:

Carol Miernicki Steeg, Ph.D. (PARTEQ)
Paul D. Tackaberry, Barrister & Solicitor (Ridout & Maybee)

Details about these two speakers are found below. Please forward this notice to anyone who might be interested in attending.

This is the second QUFA-PACC Workshop of this academic year. If you have ideas for future workshop topics, please get in touch with QUFA staff directly.

Carol Miernicki Steeg

Dr. Carol Miernicki Steeg holds the position of Vice President, Intellectual Property at PARTEQ Innovations, the technology transfer office of Queen=s University. She is also responsible for the patent portfolio of GreenCentre Canada. She is registered as a patent agent in both Canada and the United States. Her responsibilities at PARTEQ and GreenCentre include assessing the patentability of inventions, drafting patent applications, prosecuting patent applications in the U.S. and Canadian Patent Offices, giving validity and infringement opinions, managing the extensive foreign patent portfolio, heading the PARTEQ-GreenCentre patent group and guiding the patent portfolios of numerous PARTEQ and GreenCentre spinoff companies. In this role, Dr. Miernicki Steeg oversees the IP portfolios of a broad spectrum of technologies, spanning many disciplines, including biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, engineering, chemistry and materials.

Prior to coming to PARTEQ in 1995, Dr. Miernicki Steeg was a member of the Intellectual Property Group of Blake, Cassels & Graydon in Toronto, a scientific liaison for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Mount Sinai Hospital Research Institute in Toronto. She received a B.Sc. with Distinction in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Cornell University. Dr. Miernicki Steeg is a Fellow of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada. Some of her past responsibilities include Member of the Selection Panel for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Proof of Principle Grant Program (2001-2002 and 2002-2003), and Chair of the Intellectual Property Program Committee for BIO 2002 (the annual conference of the Biotechnology Industry Organization).

Paul D. Tackaberry

Paul is a lawyer at Ridout & Maybee LLP (Toronto). He provides trade-mark availability opinions and prosecutes trade-mark applications. Paul counsels clients on matters such as infringement suits, oppositions, and Federal Court appeals. He has negotiated and drafted a wide variety of licenses, technology transfers, and entertainment contracts. He has advised clients on advertising and labelling issues and is well-versed in all aspects of IP due diligence.

Paul has taught IP and IT law at universities in Toronto, Montreal, and Hong Kong. A frequent presenter, he has spoken at conferences sponsored by the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC), International Trademark Association (INTA), and the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC). From 2001-2004 Paul was the inaugural director of "Understanding the Business of Copyright", an intensive 1-week course jointly sponsored by IPIC and McGill University, where he lectures annually.

Paul is a member of numerous national and international associations having to do with intellectual property. He has written and edited numerous papers and journals.