The L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic and Manitoba Legal Clinic for the Arts will provide expanded services to underrepresented groups requiring access to IP advisory services including small and medium-sized enterprises, women and Indigenous innovators, and artists and creatives seeking to protect their works. Image designed by Freepik.
Empowering Creators, Entrepreneurs and Innovators
The Faculty of Law's L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic receives grant from Innovation, Science and Industry's IP Clinics program
The University of Manitoba Faculty of Law has been named one of three law school recipients of a grant under the the Intellectual Property Clinics Program, which promotes intellectual property education, awareness, and capacity building. The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced the 2023–2024 recipients of support on May 1, 2024. The grant will support the L. Kerry Vickar Business Law Clinic and Manitoba Legal Clinic for the Arts and be used to enhance IP training for law students participating in these Clinics at the Faculty of Law.
The Innovation, Science, Economic Development (ISED) Intellectual Property (IP) Clinics Program provides Canadian law schools with funding to open or scale up clinics to enable law students to learn more about IP by increasing university students’ exposure to IP issues. The funding also supports clinics in providing free access to basic IP information and advisory services to clients, helping innovators and small and medium-sized enterprises to develop effective IP strategies and protect their innovations and works. In addition, the funding directly supports underrepresented groups, include female and Indigenous innovators.
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry said in the announcement:
“Building IP awareness and providing Canadians with the right resources to protect and grow their own IP is essential to building an innovative Canada. With this funding, we are empowering the next generations of creators, entrepreneurs and innovators, and helping to support new ideas, honour Indigenous traditional knowledge and cultural expressions, and build an IP system that works for everyone.”
These two UM Faculty of Law Clinics actively collaborate with other organizations that support entrepreneurs, and artists in Manitoba, to ensure the Clinics are delivering the IP services that are most relevant and needed by those who cannot access or afford legal assistance.