Vancouver Chapter Upcoming Events

Ambush Marketing and You /Year-end Networking Mixer

Come join the Vancouver chapter of the LICENSING EXECUTIVES SOCIETY for the last LES lunch meeting before the summer. This get-together will emphasize networking with colleagues, with Herb Regehr and Hilton Sue providing a short talk on ambush marketing just to give the meeting an air of legitimacy.  Sorry about the short notice – consider yourselves ambushed!

DATE:
Friday, June 22, 2007

TIME:
12:00 to 1:30 - Lunch, presentation, questions and networking.

PLACE: 
Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP, Main Boardroom
3000 - 1055 West Georgia Street
Vancouver

SUBJECT: 
Ambush Marketing and You

"Ambush marketing" occurs when a brand pays to become the official sponsor of an event, and another brand tries to connect itself to the same event without paying the sponsorship fee and without breaking any laws.  For example, at the 1984 Olympics, Kodak sponsored television broadcasts of the games as well as the U.S. track team despite Fujifilm being the official sponsor; however, Fujifilm turned the tables on Kodak at the 1988 Summer Olympics when Kodak was the official sponsor.  Similar instances of ambush marketing have taken place throughout the years in respect of the FIFA World Cup, the Boston Marathon, the Cricket World Cup, etc.   Our distinguished panel will discuss some interesting (and sometimes humorous) examples of the lengths ambush marketers will go to hijack a brand.

Closer to home, Imperial Oil/Esso (a sponsor of Hockey Canada but not a sponsor of the Olympic Games or the Canadian Olympic Games) held a "Cheer on Canada/Torino, Italy" campaign/contest with prizes of tickets to attend Olympic hockey games in Turin; although the competition did not use any Olympic symbols, by referring to the Olympic Games it allegedly created an unauthorized association with the Olympic Games in Turin and with the Canadian Olympic team.   As part of its commitment to the International Olympic Committee, the Canadian government recently introduced Bill C-47 (The Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act) which will give the Canadian Olympic Committee, VANOC and their sponsors increased powers to combat ambush marketing, including the ability to obtain an interim/interlocutory injunction without the usual legal requirement to prove "irreparable harm".  This is on top of some powerful "official mark" protection that the COC and VANOC already possess and enforce (some say harshly) against businesses that use "Olympic" words.  Our extremely distinguished panel will discuss existing protection for Olympic marks under section 9 of the Trade-marks Act and under the new Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act, and let you know what you are still allowed to do without violating the rights of the COC/VANOC in words like "Vancouver", "Whistler", "Winter", "2010", "tenth" and "sponsor".

SPEAKERS: 
Our extremely, extremely distinguished panel will consist of two long-time members of the Board of Executives of the LES Vancouver Chapter, Herb Regehr and Hilton Sue.

Herb Regehr is a registered patent agent, registered trademark agent, lawyer and partner with Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP. Herb practices exclusively in the areas of intellectual property and technology law, and has extensive experience in helping clients acquire, commercialize, enforce and otherwise protect their intellectual property.  Herb routinely advises clients concerning the licensing of all types of intellectual property rights.

Hilton Sue is a registered patent agent, registered trademark agent, lawyer and partner with Oyen Wiggs Green & Mutala LLP. Hilton practices exclusively in the areas of intellectual property and technology law, and has extensive experience in helping clients acquire, commercialize, enforce and otherwise protect their intellectual property.   Hilton routinely advises clients concerning the licensing of all types of intellectual property rights.  [Note: this blurb was plagiarized under license from Hilton’s good friend Herb Regehr].  Hilton also serves as a Councillor of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada, which recently studied and made submissions this week to the Parliamentary Committee studying Bill C-47 (The Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act).

COST:     
$20 for LES members, $30 for non members.
$15 for full-time students at a post-secondary institution

Please make cheques payable to the LES Vancouver Chapter, and  send payment in advance to Lorraine Duke at the address below.

PLEASE RSVP (with payment) no later than Tuesday, June 19, 2007 to:

Lorraine Duke, Assistant to Hilton W.C. Sue
Oyen Wiggs Green & Mutala LLP
Suite 480 - The Station
601 West Cordova St.
Vancouver, BC V6B 1G1
Tel: 604-669-3432 ext. 8960
Fax: 604-681-4081
Email: lduke@patentable.com

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
Professionals with an interest in high technology licensing, technology transfer, and intellectual property administration.  And anyone else who wants to attend for any reason.

THE LICENSING EXECUTIVES SOCIETY:
The LES membership includes a wide range of professionals, including business executives, lawyers, licensing consultants, engineers, academicians, scientists and government officials.  The Vancouver chapter of LES (U.S.A. and Canada) strives to provide professional development opportunities for members of our local technology transfer community.For more information, see www.usa-canada.les.org.

THE LES VANCOUVER CHAPTER:
See LES Vancouver Chapter website at www.lesvan.com.