The clinic focuses on assisting startups with their intellectual property concerns
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada has issued funding to the Lincoln Alexander School of Law to support the school's partnership with DMZ on its Intellectual Property Clinic.
The investment enhances the IP Clinic's accessbility to startups that were incubated at DMZ and across TMU’s Zone Learning network, providing entrepreneurs with free and inexpensive general counsel. The clinic helps startups to understand copyright ownership and offers preliminary assessments to identify possible trademark conflicts, thus preventing expensive mistakes such as failure to properly transfer IP from a developer to an organization.
The IP Clinic is a new arm of DMZ's startup legal service, which was founded by Lincoln Alexander Law alumnus Nicholas Hill (Law '23) with the aim of backing startups that can't afford expert legal advice in critical growth phases. The service is supported by Lincoln Alexander School of Law in-house experts, lawyers, and students.
Hill, who currently leads the service, had taught himself business law, having personally encountered prohibitive legal expenses while building his business.
"Large companies have in-house counsel and they often negotiate and enter into contracts with startups that don't have a huge legal budget. To encourage and help Canadian innovation grow and expand, we’re playing a small role in cutting down the legal costs so that they can focus on development," he said in a statement.
DMZ's legal service also assists entrepreneurs with contract drafting and negotiation as well as with developing corporate governance.
Lincoln Alexander School of Law students also have the chance to learn practically via the DMZ startup legal service and the IP Clinic.
Three to four students work with Hill each semester to earn startup and IP law experience. Hill explained that one such student had constructed the framework for the trademark risk assessments.
The new ISED funding will expand the program to include more students, develop copyright and trademark guidance, and cultivate networks between external trademark agents and legal professionals, according to a press release by the Toronto Metropolitan University.
