a special supplement to ACC Docket
sponsored by Norton Rose Fulbright LLP
SAVE THE DATE
Jan/Feb 2014 Canadian Briefings
Drafts due by Oct. 18th
1 Avoiding Intellectual Property Pitfalls in the
Oil and Gas Industry
Mark Sajewycz
6 Pharma in Brief — USTR Slams Canada Over
the Treatment of Pharmaceutical Patents
Patrick E. Kierans
Avoiding Intellectual Property
Pitfalls in the Oil and Gas Industry
Mark Sajewycz ( mark.sajewycz@nortonrosefulbright.com), Norton Rose Fulbright
Intellectual property in the oil and
gas industry
Whether it involves conventional or
unconventional resources, participants in the oil and gas value chain are
innovating to overcome technological challenges and improve competitiveness. Constantly, more efficient
methodologies or tools are being
developed to: extract ever-depleting
conventional resources; challenge
conventional wisdom and potentially
replace existing oil sands extraction
approaches; or more efficiently process
and upgrade heavy hydrocarbons,
after recovery. Ingrained within this
culture of innovation is the oil and gas
ecosystem, which combines a spirit of
entrepreneurship and a “get-it-done
attitude” with the opportunity to participate in a booming energy economy.
The existence of a legal framework,
to govern intellectual property rights,
is widely recognized and appreciated
in the oil and gas space. However,
because of the relatively non-intuitive
regulatory schemes relating to creation
and ownership of intellectual property
rights, commercialization opportuni-
ties can easily be missed in a fast-paced
entrepreneurial environment built on
personal relationships and fierce but
friendly dealmaking.
This article highlights potential
pitfalls for an oil and gas technology
company — which could cause the
discounting or loss of available intellectual property — and suggests ways at
circumnavigating these pitfalls.
Field testing of unproven technology
There are at least two key issues that
every oil and gas technology business should be mindful of when
field testing unproven technology:
consequences of public disclosure
and ownership of improvements that
derive from the testing.