By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
Passionate about math and science from elementary school, and a “tinkerer” since boyhood, Wissam Aoun saw a degree in mechanical engineering as a natural fit, especially for someone who grew up in southern Ontario, an area heavily influenced by the automotive industry.
Aoun, who joined the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law faculty this fall as assistant professor of law and director of the International Intellectual Property Law Clinic, originally started his career path as a research and development engineer in the automotive and manufacturing industries.
When this field began slowing down, he went back to school to pursue a formal education in law, with a focus on Intellectual Property Law, and then worked with several IP law firms in the United States and Canada. He has drafted and prosecuted patent applications in various areas of technology, including automotive, biotech and LED-technologies for clients ranging from sole inventors to large multi-national corporations.
“Having a technical background, and having worked in R & D, I’ve always been fascinated by the process of creation and invention,” he says. “There’s nothing in the world more inspiring to me than to be part of the process of technology development and commercialization, getting to see the process from beginning to end, and to be able to play a vital role in value protection for technological innovation.”
Prior to joining Detroit Mercy Law, the award-winning lecturer spent five years as intellectual property clinical director at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law and has taught courses in all areas of intellectual property law including patents, trademarks, copyright and commercialization of technology.
According to Aoun, there are not a lot of differences in the law itself between the U.S. and Canada, but there are tremendous differences in the teaching and practice of IP law on both sides of the border.
“For many reasons the teaching and practice of IP law in Canada is in need of modernization,” he says. “Although it’s a lofty goal, I sincerely hope the IP Clinic will go a long way in changing this, by acting as a conduit to plug the Canadian practice into the U.S. environment and bring about positive change in the education and practice of Canadian IP law.”
One of his main teaching objectives in the clinical program is to show young law students how to leverage technology to be more efficient, competitive and entrepreneurial in the market place.
“Students learn how to use software for file management, searching and drafting, all of which are affordable and web-accessible,” he explains. “Young lawyers graduating from the clinical program could, in theory, run a small IP practice with nothing but their laptop computer.”
In comparison to various other areas of law, technology has the potential to make the practice of IP law far more efficient and productive – however, change is slow, he notes. Clinic clients receive a valuable service that would normally be difficult to access for small, needy inventors.
“Many are student inventors, and in addition to the legal services they’re receiving, they’re receiving education on how IP works and why it’s an essential part of the technology commercialization process,” he explains. “These students will go on to become the future of our local technology economy.”
Aoun notes IP law still seems to be in demand despite the legal market downturn.
“An education in IP law affords students a variety of different career options, including law firm practice, in-house or at the USPTO, just to name a few,” he says. “Other areas of law may not afford such flexibility and range of options, and technology is always developing so there will always be a need for lawyers with IP expertise.
“Students are not only receiving top-notch IP training – essentially, we strive to have students graduating from the clinic to be fully equipped to walk into any entry level IP position – but they are also learning how to harness the power of new technology to stay ahead of the game.”
Aoun enjoys sharing his expertise and experience with his students.
“There is nothing in the world more inspiring, humbling and intellectual stimulating than teaching,” he notes.
As the 2013 and 2014 Lecturer in International Comparative Patent Law at Monash University in Prato, Italy, he had the opportunity to teach students from around the globe.
“It really was a tremendous growth experience for me, as an educator, to learn from the students as much as they learned from me – to experience how students from around the world learn in an classroom environment,” he says. “It really was fascinating – I would have never expected how different the interaction with students from Australia would be from students from France, or from Germany, or from the U.K., and other countries.”
Aoun, who hails from Leamington, Ontario, about an hour from Windsor where he currently makes his home, enjoys giving back to communities in Michigan and in Ontario.
“I’m fortunate that as a clinician, my work allows me to be very involved in a number of community and volunteer initiatives,” he says. “I’m very active in providing legal training for high-risk youth on both sides of the border, as well as a regular volunteer at a number of events at local technology incubators and accelerators.”
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