Law Times

Law timeS • September 24, 2012 But practitioners find lots of satisfaction in ever-changing field I BY KENNETH JACKSON For Law Times counterparts who reach celebrity status through the high-profi le fi gures they defend. Lawyers who represent mur- ntellectual property lawyers don't normally gain notori- ety through the clients they represent like some of their derers typically get more ink. Intellectual property lawyers and their clients tend to be low- key in comparison. But they have their hand in the songs people lis- ten to, the movies they see, and the prescription drugs they take. In fact, they can be the grease in the wheels of innovation by protect- ing it or fi ghting to have it shared. Th ey can even be Olympic rowers like aspiring intellectual property lawyer Morgan Jarvis who competed in the 2012 Olym- pic Games in London, England. Th e National Post quoted A passionate professor helped inspire Madeleine Lamothe-Samson's interest in intellectual property law. Jarvis, an articling student at Gowling Lafl eur Henderson LLP, as saying before the Games that he had decided to spend his career "helping Canadian companies become greater in- novators and build a bigger, innovation, technology-based economy in Canada." Intellectual property law, seems, can be sexy. Mark Hayes began his career it as a lawyer focusing on commer- cial litigation in a number of dif- ferent areas but soon found his focus shiſt ing towards intellectu- al property law, oſt en in matters involving copyright issues. "You go where the clients ask you to do work," says Hayes. "You do one case and clients hire you to do other cases and pretty soon it's a big part of your practice." Hayes notes he didn't start out aiming to be an intellectual property lawyer. "I started doing copyright-re- lated and licensing-related work in the mid- to late-'80s when I was doing a lot of work for Cin- eplex and that sort of continued through to the '90s," says Hayes. "I was starting to get involved frightened, if I can call it that, of copyright. Th ey like the pat- ent practice and the trademark practice. It tends to be more cut and dry and really straightfor- ward. Copyright is this hugely complicated statute that is kind of like a giant contraption that people keep adding things to." Hayes may be rare in his When it comes to IP in Canada, We're Well Read Ridout & Maybee LLP: Editors of the Canadian Patent Reporter fi eld as he likes the spotlight. He sometimes appears on Canada AM or will have his name on the pages of papers like the Post dis- cussing intellectual property law. He notes that as copyright law it all starts somewhere www.ridoutmaybee.com is very interpretative, there can be a lot of grey areas. "I found it was actually great for me because I like exactly that. I like the areas of uncertainty where I can do analysis and try to fi gure out the best way to get through a problem for my cli- ents. It's my practice and my way of looking at problems whereas it might not fi t some other people. For me, it's interesting." It's fair to say Hayes has fol- in copyright work which led to a lot of work with television and radio broadcasters in the early '90s. It's been a quite a while that I've been involved." Hayes is founding partner lowed his heart along with his clients. He's author of a chapter on privacy law in Canada in the U.S. publication Proskauer on Privacy and was co-author of a landmark 1997 study commis- sioned by Industry Canada on liability on the Internet. Like Hayes, Madeleine La- Untitled-1 1 12-01-23 9:05 AM University of Ottawa. "Th at professor, although his course was called intellec- tual property, his course was more about copyright," says La- mothe-Samson. "Th is guy was ample of a client with a problem and ask how they'd respond to so passionate about his topic. He was a very tough professor as well. We had a lot of work to do." He would give them an ex- IP lawyers work under the radar FOCUS what I want to do," says Lamothe- Samson. "Th at's what I am doing now. I followed through with that interest." the issue. "I just loved it and said that's LT PAGE 11 GET NAMES, MAILING ADDRESSES, EMAIL ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS FOR LAWYERS AND LAW OFFICES IN B.C., NUNAVUT, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES AND THE YUKON Published October of each year Spiralbound • L88804-588 Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. of Hayes eLaw LLP in Toronto. He launched the fi rm in 2009. His clients range from Fortune 500 companies to individual web site operators and include a number of industry associa- tions. He says that in his expe- rience, most people who start out wanting to do intellectual property law tend to be on the trademark and patent side. "To get into the licensing mothe-Samson has been practis- ing intellectual property law for more than a decade and sort of fell into the fi eld. She covers all aspects of intellectual property law but also focuses mainly on copyright. Like Hayes, she deals with entertainment law and trademark issues as well. "I decided to get into law In one handy volume you'll have a single means of access to every lawyer and law firm in B.C., Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon. PUBLISHED ANNUALLY, THE CURRENT EDITION INCLUDES: • B.C. Notaries • B.C. Land Surveyors • Canadian Association of Para-Legals and regulatory and copyright reform, they tend to come from the litigation side than straight IP side. Th ey may be quite school thinking law would lead into something else eventually," says Lamothe-Samson of Norton Rose Canada LLP in Montreal. "I have to say I wasn't thrilled at all by law school. I think it was rather boring until I took an in- tellectual property course." Th e course was with profes- THIS DIRECTORY HAS: • Durable spiral-bound format • E-mail addresses (where available) • Federal court listings • Federal government departments MULTIPLE COPY DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE: 1 - 9 copies: ……………$40.00* ea. 10 - 49 copies: …………$38.00* ea. 50 - 99 copies: …………$36.80* ea. 100 or more copies: ……$35.20* ea. (*Plus applicable taxes) ORDER ONLINE AT WWW.CARSWELL.COM sor Victor Nabhan at Laval Uni- versity. He now teaches at the CANADIAN LAW LIST www.lawtimesnews.com • Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon listings. • Up-to-date addresses, telephone numbers and fax numbers

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