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44 M A R C H 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m jump into the market," she says. "We'd had 50-plus engineers working on this for years and years. When you put so many dollars into R&D and someone takes off with your idea, therein lies the frustration. When we looked at it, we had to determine how we would proceed. You have to protect your intel- lectual property." Beaudoin looked at what kind of strategy the company could pursue and started to dip her toe into the infringe- ment lawsuit pool. "We created a strategy around it and that is still in play today. It's not just about filing a lawsuit against this infringer or that infringer — it's really a more global strategy and approach to intellectual property and protecting our intellectual property," she says. Packers Plus has a second patent infringement case going to court in February 2017. In 2013, it launched a suit against Essential Energy Services Ltd. of Calgary for allegedly violating the same patent. Essential countersued, claiming the technology and method- ology had been in use in the industry prior to the patent filing date of Nov. 19, 2001. Beaudoin won't elaborate on that suit or her broader strategy, and the company's lawyers from Bereskin & Parr would not comment on the win against Canuck Completions or future litigation. "We did years of analysis on it before we stepped out into our strategy, which we're a couple of years into now. It's really interesting to see the number of filings — the industry as a whole is behind the high tech industry," she says. Companies such as Packers Plus are taking different strategies given the cur- rent climate. Cash flow is tighter and everyone is looking at things from a dif- ferent lens than they did a year or two years ago. Right now, legal is seen as the white knight. "I think people are look- ing for other ways to generate revenue," she says. "It's certainly brought some revenue in. Usually, the legal depart- ment is seen as a cost centre." Beaudoin is not alone in her pat- ent protection strategy. Charles Pigeon, a registered patent agent with Burnet Duckworth & Palmer LLP in Calgary, says he is seeing more clients concerned about potential lawsuits from patent owners. In November 2015, he had three clients on separate matters con- tact him to do some digging regarding patents. "They were hearing from oth- ers that the patent owners had started sending cease-and-desist letters," he says. Pigeon represents both patentees and companies being sued by patent holders. "Given the fact oil prices are so low, many patentees feel the need to do some 'sabre rattling' to minimize competition in a field where the profits are being squeezed," he says, adding it is "somewhat of a coincidence" that the economic downturn is happening at a moment where oil and gas companies have finally reached a generalized level of comfort with patents in terms of using them as commercial instruments, i.e., to block competition from garner- ing market share. Based on what Pigeon has seen in the past year, he estimates one out of 10 or 15 "patent issues" becomes an action L E G A L R E P O RT \ M I N I N G & E N E R G Y L AW REACH ONE OF THE LARGEST LEGAL AND BUSINESS MARKETS IN CANADA! With more than BOBWFSBHFPG,00 page views and ,000 unique visitors monthly canadianlawlist.com captures your market. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT Colleen Austin: T: 416.649.9327 E: colleen.austin@thomsonreuters.com www.canadianlawlist.com AVAILABLE ONLINE AND IN PRINT Untitled-3 1 2016-02-09 3:32 PM

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