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)