The CBA Intellectual Property Section has established a Law Student Essay Contest related to general topics in Canadian intellectual property law. The objectives of the competition are to promote and reward interest in intellectual property law topics in Canadian law schools and to promote participation by law students in the Section PD conferences.
Criteria & Eligibility
The award is presented annually for the best scholarly paper or article received by the submission date on a subject relating to Canadian intellectual property law. All full-time university students currently enrolled at a Canadian law school at either an undergraduate or graduate level are eligible to enter.
Submission
Papers must adhere to the following guidelines:
- Papers must be at least 12 pages and no more than 30 pages in length, including references.
- Papers must be double spaced using Times New Roman, font size 12.
- Papers must address a theme of significance in Canadian intellectual property law or justice, public policy or public affairs related to same.
- Papers must be appropriately referenced; all referencing methods in the legal field will be accepted.
- Papers may be written in English or French.
- Papers must be researched and written by one author. Papers must be the author’s own original, unpublished work. Papers that are submitted for a law school course are eligible.
- The author’s name and identifying information must not appear on the paper itself.
- A brief abstract (max. 150 words) and author biography (max. 150 words) must also be submitted.
- Additional formatting requirements.
Deadline for Submissions
April 25
Plagiarism Policy
Submissions must not infringe the intellectual property rights of others, and must not plagiarize another’s work. Plagiarism is deliberately presenting the ideas, expression of ideas, or work of others as one’s own. Plagiarism includes reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as one’s own without proper citation or reference to the original source. The CBA reserves the right to assess all submissions for content that potentially infringes on or plagiarizes the work of another, and will disqualify any candidate that submits such content.
Contact
CBA Sections
Phone: (613) 237-2925 or
Toll Free: (800) 267-8860
E-mail: CBAI_P@cba.org
Selection Process
- Papers will be evaluated by a jury of 3-5 members appointed by the CBA Intellectual Property Section Executive. Papers will be reviewed for quality of content, impact and readability.
- Papers will be rejected if they fail to adhere to any of the submission guidelines.
- All submissions will be acknowledged and all candidates will receive notification of contest results.
Award
The winner will receive a certificate and cash prize of $500. The winning paper will also be posted on the CBA Intellectual Property Law Section webpage.
Past Winners
- 2024 - Joudy Sarraj
- 2023 - Thomas Nichini (Vancouver, BC)
- 2022 - Shira Brand (Winnipeg, MB)
- 2021 - Becky Noble (Qualicum Beach, BC)
- 2020 - Adam Lakusta (Winnipeg, MB)
- 2019 - Isabelle Lefroy ( North Vancouver, BC)
- 2018 - Pascal Visentin (Edmonton, AB)
- 2017 - Sebastian D. Beck-Watt (Toronto, ON)
- 2016 - Alexander Eckler (Toronto, ON)
- 2015 - Pradeepan Sarma (Montreal, QC)
- 2014 - Nivi Ramaswamy (Vancouver, BC)