Minutes from the September 24 AGM are provided below. Kindly review at your convenience and forward any comments or suggestions to the executive committee.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 11. At that meeting, The Honourable Justice Roger T. Hughes from the Federal Court will be providing some insight into current legal issues in patent drafting. Further details will be confirmed in an upcoming email.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Minutes from September 24 KWIPG AGM
During the annual general meeting, three major issues were discussed.
1) Selection of the KWIPG executive
There are four spots on the KWIPG executive, Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. The executive has been selected on an ad hoc basis since the KWIPG was founded in 2003. The current executive has been in place since July 2008.
It was agreed that up to two members of the executive would be replaced by new members from the KWIPG. If you are interested in joining the executive for a one-year term, please contact Mark Schisler (mschisler@blgcanada.com) or Jason Hynes (jhynes@bereskinparr.com). Those who are interested are welcome to attend an executive meeting to get a sense of what is involved.
The current executive will vet all applicants and then select the new members. This is similar to the procedure the Toronto Intellectual Property Group uses to select its executive, and should help to provide a smooth transition from year-to-year.
2) Fees and Membership
The KWIPG has always operated on a not-for-profit basis, with event fees being used almost entirely to cover the costs of food. Any residual funds at the end of the year were normally used to pay for food at our annual summer social. The KWIPG also has an outstanding loan to IPIC for $500, which was used to help the group become established.
There is currently no cost to join the KWIPG group, and no formal membership process. The only income to the group is from event fees, which up until now have been set to cover the cost of the food.
In the interests of becoming more financially independent, including repaying the loan from IPIC, covering speaker gifts, and paying travel costs for speakers (to attract a wider range of speakers), the introduction of a formal membership was discussed, including fees.
It was decided to look into implementing an optional annual membership fee, available on either an institutional basis (e.g. a firm or company would pay a flat rate, regardless of the number of attendees) or an individual basis. Members could then be charged a reduced rate for events. Subsidized memberships (e.g. for students or small practitioners) were also discussed as an option.
The executive committee will meet to discuss implementing a membership structure and will prepare a proposed cost outline for the different membership options (e.g. institutional/individual/student, etc.). This will be presented for discussion at a subsequent meeting.
3) Membership List and Private Member’s Website
Finally, there was a brief discussion of distributing a membership list to all current members. This would hopefully allow members to keep in better contact with each other and further the social goals of the group. Various privacy issues were discussed, including whether members would opt-in or opt-out to the distribution of the list, and how consent for use of personal information could be obtained.
The option of providing a “member’s only” section on the blog was also discussed. Such a section could be used to provide access to the membership list, allow for contact information to be updated, and provide an archive for content.
These issues will be investigated by the executive in greater detail, and will be presented at a subsequent meeting for discussion.
If you have any suggestions or comments on these topics, or have other items that you would like to see discussed, please send an email to Mark Schisler (mschisler@blgcanada.com) or Jason Hynes (jhynes@bereskinparr.com)
1) Selection of the KWIPG executive
There are four spots on the KWIPG executive, Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. The executive has been selected on an ad hoc basis since the KWIPG was founded in 2003. The current executive has been in place since July 2008.
It was agreed that up to two members of the executive would be replaced by new members from the KWIPG. If you are interested in joining the executive for a one-year term, please contact Mark Schisler (mschisler@blgcanada.com) or Jason Hynes (jhynes@bereskinparr.com). Those who are interested are welcome to attend an executive meeting to get a sense of what is involved.
The current executive will vet all applicants and then select the new members. This is similar to the procedure the Toronto Intellectual Property Group uses to select its executive, and should help to provide a smooth transition from year-to-year.
2) Fees and Membership
The KWIPG has always operated on a not-for-profit basis, with event fees being used almost entirely to cover the costs of food. Any residual funds at the end of the year were normally used to pay for food at our annual summer social. The KWIPG also has an outstanding loan to IPIC for $500, which was used to help the group become established.
There is currently no cost to join the KWIPG group, and no formal membership process. The only income to the group is from event fees, which up until now have been set to cover the cost of the food.
In the interests of becoming more financially independent, including repaying the loan from IPIC, covering speaker gifts, and paying travel costs for speakers (to attract a wider range of speakers), the introduction of a formal membership was discussed, including fees.
It was decided to look into implementing an optional annual membership fee, available on either an institutional basis (e.g. a firm or company would pay a flat rate, regardless of the number of attendees) or an individual basis. Members could then be charged a reduced rate for events. Subsidized memberships (e.g. for students or small practitioners) were also discussed as an option.
The executive committee will meet to discuss implementing a membership structure and will prepare a proposed cost outline for the different membership options (e.g. institutional/individual/student, etc.). This will be presented for discussion at a subsequent meeting.
3) Membership List and Private Member’s Website
Finally, there was a brief discussion of distributing a membership list to all current members. This would hopefully allow members to keep in better contact with each other and further the social goals of the group. Various privacy issues were discussed, including whether members would opt-in or opt-out to the distribution of the list, and how consent for use of personal information could be obtained.
The option of providing a “member’s only” section on the blog was also discussed. Such a section could be used to provide access to the membership list, allow for contact information to be updated, and provide an archive for content.
These issues will be investigated by the executive in greater detail, and will be presented at a subsequent meeting for discussion.
If you have any suggestions or comments on these topics, or have other items that you would like to see discussed, please send an email to Mark Schisler (mschisler@blgcanada.com) or Jason Hynes (jhynes@bereskinparr.com)
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
KWIPG Annual General Meeting
After the summer break, the next meeting of the Kitchener Waterloo Intellectual Property Group is being held on:
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009.
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: Miller Thomson Waterloo Office, Accelerator Building
295 Hagey Blvd., Suite 300
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6R5
Tel: 519-579-3660
At this meeting we will discuss the structure of our organization to determine how we may best move forward.
What follows is a proposed agenda of the issues that the Executive proposes to address. Please forward your comments to Mark Schisler at mschisler@blgcanada.com, so that we may add your topic(s) to the agenda.
Fees – individual meeting only or by company membership?
Selection of the Executive. What works for you?
There will be a $15 charge to cover the cost of lunch. Please make cheques payable to Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (receipts will be issued upon request). Please forward this invitation along to those who you think may be interested in attending.
Please RSVP to Lisa Malcolm at: lmalcolm@bereskinparr.com by September 17, 2009 to confirm your attendance.
More information about the Kitchener Waterloo Intellectual Property Group can be found on our blog: http://kwipg.blogspot.com/
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009.
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: Miller Thomson Waterloo Office, Accelerator Building
295 Hagey Blvd., Suite 300
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6R5
Tel: 519-579-3660
At this meeting we will discuss the structure of our organization to determine how we may best move forward.
What follows is a proposed agenda of the issues that the Executive proposes to address. Please forward your comments to Mark Schisler at mschisler@blgcanada.com, so that we may add your topic(s) to the agenda.
Fees – individual meeting only or by company membership?
Selection of the Executive. What works for you?
There will be a $15 charge to cover the cost of lunch. Please make cheques payable to Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (receipts will be issued upon request). Please forward this invitation along to those who you think may be interested in attending.
Please RSVP to Lisa Malcolm at: lmalcolm@bereskinparr.com by September 17, 2009 to confirm your attendance.
More information about the Kitchener Waterloo Intellectual Property Group can be found on our blog: http://kwipg.blogspot.com/
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