Licensing of intellectual property rights


Chantal Bertosa and Andrea Pasztor

The licensing of intellectual property rights is a lucrative endeavour; therefore, it is important that licences are dealt with correctly.

While parties are free to draft their licences as they see fit, they should not assume that all types of IP are the same. Given the different purposes and rights underlying different types of IP, they must be dealt with appropriately otherwise parties may find their licences voidable or the underlying IP negatively affected.

Recent changes to the Canadian Competition Act, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act have a direct impact on IP licences in Canada.

Competition Act

IP rights, licensing, CIPO