Finance committee  Absolutely.

Finance committee  You mean in all this legislation?

Finance committee  In IP and copyright, I think on the patent side we touched the file history estoppel, which I think is proposed section 53.2. The major issue that came from our members with respect to that was the timing, because it's in force right away, so that would impact current litigation.

Finance committee  Yes, there could be a grey area. It's pretty clear that if you're doing business before the patent or trademark office, you have to be, in those rules, set up as a patent agent or a trademark agent to represent a person before those offices, and those are the titles that are carried forward in the legislation for the college.

Finance committee  Absolutely.

Finance committee  That's right. You're right, and—

Finance committee  You've got it. You have it.

Finance committee  I think for the most part it's mostly SMEs that we're dealing with in Canada. Internationally, we deal with intellectual property rights in council from other jurisdictions every single day. There is a generally regarded acknowledgement of the profession in Germany, the U.K. and Australia.

Finance committee  Yes. We have a wide breadth of committees, from organizing our annual conferences—the educational aspect—to committees that deal with litigation, a litigation committee. A wide breadth of areas of IP are embodied in committees that members join. We encourage members to join committees and to get involved, to learn more about IP, learn more about the educational aspects of the profession, and get involved in giving webinars and seminars to our members.

Finance committee  Yes. If they belong to bodies that require it, absolutely. Our courses are qualified. I know for sure, as a member of the Law Society of Ontario.... It depends on which courses they are, but yes, they can be qualified, and—

Finance committee  As soon as you need them, which is probably yesterday, I'm guessing.

Finance committee  Tomorrow, basically.

Finance committee  No. If we talk about patent or trademark agents, no, and as you can imagine, we're a pretty conservative profession. No, we don't have a history of bad behaviour at all. Our impetus, our motivation, for advocating for a college of this sort for 20-some years is to have a self-regulated profession that stands alone so that you have professional advisers for intellectual property for businesses.

Finance committee  Sure. As a voluntary association, we're engaged in a lot of these activities already for our members, and we have been historically. Continuing professional education is a core part of what we do. The aspect of a college really embodies all of the professional education requirements and elevates the view of patent and trademark agents to the public and businesses to show this as a self-standing governing profession that is expert at advising them on intellectual property rights.

Finance committee  The code of ethics—