As the federal government prepares to overhaul a key tool to protect intellectual property (IP) — Canada's copyright legislation — new research prepared the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) suggests that decision makers in Canada's business community have a poor understanding of what intellectual property is or what agencies in Canada are responsible for protecting IP. But they don't care that they don't know that: It seems none of the 2,016 respondents to the survey, done by The Strategic Counsel, ranked 'Intellectual Property' issues as one of the top issues for their company.
The data is in a study called Canadian Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs): Baseline Awareness of Intellectual Property, and was given to CIPO in March.
Here's some other highlights from the study:
- When asked to name any formal methods or types of intellectual property protection, more than three-in-five senior decision makers (62%) were unable to do so
- Four-out-of-five senior decision makers (81%) could not name an organization in Canada that is responsible for granting and/or registering IP protection.
- And yet … One-third (32%) of senior business decision makers surveyed considered their company to have IP assets. One-quarter (26%) of companies with IP assets choose not to protect them.