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CONTENTS
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FEATURES
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EDITOR
Peter Saunders (416) 510-5119 psaunders@ccemag.com
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SPONSORED FEATURE Major Auto Manufacturer Selects Champion Duct® for 3,000-Acre EV Mega Centre
A 3,000-acre mega complex will house the production of nextgeneration electric pickups and advanced batteries.
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Legal: IP Protection for Buildings and Structures
Following a change last June, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) now takes the position that buildings and structures may be eligible for design protection.
June 2025 Market Trends Handbook ccemag.com
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Conversation: Managing Contractor Safety
As safety management principal, Fernando Del Melo has helped ensure RAM’s contractor safety management program (CSMP) is customizable to clients’ needs.
MAJOR AUTO MANUFACTURER SELECTS CHAMPION DUCT ® FOR 3,000-ACRE EV MEGA CENTRE
A3,000-acre mega complex will house the production of next-generation electric pickups and advanced batteries.
Challenge
Other types of conduit, such as SCH 40 PVC, are commonly used for large-scale underground duct bank construction
projects, but at the time, conduit pricing and lead times were on the rise. This project required a significant amount of electrical conduit: 1 million feet underground. Materials and installation costs had to be considered. In addition, the project would span several years, so product availability, on-time delivery and swift installation would be critical.
Solution
After acknowledging the high costs and long lead times of other materials, project managers recognized the need for options. Enter fibreglass conduit.
Not only was it durable, long-lasting and non-metallic to support a dense cabling environment, but it also offered installation advantages and was budget-friendly for the large project. Labour costs are a major consideration for a massive project like this one. Champion Fiberglass conduit’s light weight and gasket joining system, which requires no glue, make it a faster install than PVC conduit, where gluing adds significant time.
Champion Fiberglass worked closely with the customer to ensure product deliveries were consistent. They also conducted regular training sessions with contractors about products and best practices to facilitate a seamless installation.
Results
A project of this magnitude requires not only high-quality products, but also clear, responsive communication to ensure deliveries and installation progress at a fast pace.
Using Champion Duct, the major auto manufacturer experienced an efficient installation compared to PVC and reduced material and labour costs with a strong, durable conduit option that provides a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
CHAMPION DUCT BENEFITS:
• Lower materials costs.
• More efficient, lower-cost installation over PVC SCH 40.
• Expedited installation due to gasket joints and lowest man-hour installation rates for most diameters of electrical conduit, per the National Electrical Contractors Association’s (NECA’s) manual of labour units.
Expandable Utility Risers (Patent Pending)
EXPANDABLE UTILITY RISERS
Height adjustable for easy installation
Allows for enhanced expansion and contraction with ground movement
Impact and UV resistant
Temperature tolerance (-40 to +230 °F)
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BIM/REVIT
IP Protection for Buildings and Structures
By Alex Buonassisi, Pablo Tseng and Annik Forristal
On June 14, 2024, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) introduced a change to its practice with respect to industrial designs applied to buildings and structures. Specifically, CIPO now takes the position that buildings and structures may be eligible for design protection.
This recent extension of industrial design protection to buildings and structures may affect parties who are involved in their design and construction, including engineers, architects, developers and property owners. Understanding how this change in practice—with respect to the industrial design system in Canada— complements the existing Canadian copyright regime will be key for governing existing and future relationships between these parties.
Canada’s industrial design regime
Industrial designs in Canada are governed by the Industrial Design Act (IDA) of 1985, last amended in 2018. To be granted legal protection, an industrial design application must be prepared and filed in accordance with the IDA. Once the application is filed, it is reviewed by CIPO. If the formal and substantive requirements for a design are met, then the industrial design is registered.
The owner of the registration then enjoys protection of the industrial design
for a period of 10 years from the date of registration or 15 years from the filing date of the application, whichever is longer.
An industrial design is registrable in Canada if all of the following requirements are met:
• the application is filed in accordance with the IDA.
• the design is novel.
• the design is created by the applicant or the applicant’s predecessor-in-title.
• the design does not consist only of features dictated solely by a utilitarian function of the finished article.
• the design is not contrary to public morality or order.
To be novel, the design must not have been previously disclosed in such a manner that it became available to the public. Notwithstanding the foregoing, persons who publicly disclose their own industrial design have a 12-month grace period to submit an application for it to CIPO without jeopardizing their ability to register their design, despite the prior disclosure.
Broadening protections
The recent change in practice follows a comprehensive review by CIPO of Canada’s industrial design framework and the relevant case law. Notably, the change brings Canada in line with other jurisdictions, like the U.S., where design patents
for buildings and other on-site structures have long been available. By way of example, the Statue of Liberty was protected by a design patent back in 1879!
The change in practice also applies retroactively to pending industrial design applications, regardless of their filing date, as per Canada’s Industrial Design Office Practice Manual (IDOP), which was also updated in June. No additional criteria specific to buildings and structures are required and these applications will be processed similarly to all other applications.
G iven that a registration provides a monopoly on reproducing the protected industrial design, the change in practice may prove valuable to parties that construct buildings and structures with particularly distinctive and notable designs. After all, the owner of an industrial design registration controls the use of the protected design and can influence any proliferation or restriction of the design in other buildings and structures.
Revisions and the existing copyright regime
In Canada, architectural works have already long enjoyed protection under copyright law. The Copyright Act of 1985 extends protection to works that are original artistic and creative expressions fixed in a material form and are produced through an exercise of skill and judgment,
as noted in CCH Canadian Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada, 2004 SCC 13.
When it comes to buildings and structures, such works may include architectural plans and drawings, as well as the artistic expression embodied in the building itself. In contrast, the Canadian industrial design system can be used to protect the unique visual appearance or ornamentation applied to a building or structure, including its shape, configuration, pattern or ornament.
As such, industrial design protection may overlap with certain design features already protected by copyright, but may also apply to other design features not currently protected by copyright. It is accordingly prudent for engineers, property owners, developers and architects to turn their minds to ownership and control of industrial design rights in addition to copyright when entering contracts for the design and construction of buildings and structures.
Key takeaways
A s mentioned, CIPO’s recent change in practice with respect to industrial designs applied to buildings and structures may have several implications for parties involved in the design and construction of buildings and structures as well as for the owners of such buildings and structures. These include the following.
First, as noted by CIPO, “buildings and structures may be acceptable finished articles to which a design can be applied.”
Secondly, when multiple parties are involved in designing a building or structure, it would be prudent of the professionals involved to clarify in writing which party owns the industrial design for the building or structure.
Finally, parties involved in designing and constructing buildings and structures must also be aware of existing third-party industrial designs and any potential risk in infringing upon them.
Editor’s note:
This article is based on the following bulletin: https://mcmillan.ca/insights/ publications/expanded-ip-protection-incanada-for-buildings-and-structures/.
Alex Buonassisi, based in Vancouver, is an associate who runs a broad intellectual property (IP) practice for McMillan LLP. Pablo Tseng, also based in Vancouver, is a partner, IP lawyer and trademark agent at McMillan. Annik Forristal, based in Toronto, is a partner and group head of McMillan’s national infrastructure and construction group, specializing in municipal land use and development. For more information, please contact them at alex.buonassisi@mcmillan.ca, pablo.tseng@ mcmillan.ca and annik.forristal@mcmillan. ca, respectively.
Managing Contractor Safety
Fernando Del Melo is safety management principal for Vancouver-based consulting engineering firm RAM and has more than 30 years’ experience as a health and safety consultant across Western Canada.
His career began when he volunteered for St. John Ambulance at special events; he went on to get certified in 2008 as a health and safety consultant by the Canadian Society of Safety Engineers (CSSE)—now Health and Safety Professionals of Canada (HSPC)—and from 2021 to 2022 served as vice-chair of its Lower Mainland chapter.
In his current role at RAM, he has helped ensure the firm’s contractor safety management program (CSMP) is customizable and scalable to its various clients’ needs.
How did this come to be your focus?
I developed a specialty in contractor safety management while helping large organizations. I was particularly fortunate to enter a working relationship with the Vancouver Airport Authority (VAA) as an advisor when it was undertaking a massive terminal expansion in preparation for a significant increase in passenger numbers, both for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and in general.
I started my own firm, Pacific Safety Consulting Group, in 2008 and ran it for 16 years until RAM acquired us. Safety was one of their core values and there was client demand for support services in that area.
Integrating safety into everything RAM does is a huge value-add for its clients, especially with the increase in contractorization in the engineering business. Those of us from Pacific Safety had to quickly learn how to integrate with internal stakeholders. It’s been a cool experience!
What are some examples of the safety measures you implement?
RAM’S CSSP looks at many elements from pre- to post-work activities. We support our clients’ people and processes and then the implementation of those processes, embedding safety throughout their procedures.
At the planning stage, there is prequalification to ensure contractors are prepared to do the scope of work our clients need. We find ways to set them up for safe work and establish a ‘bridge’ between them and the clients.
During the work, we ensure safety measures are based on the project’s highest-risk activities, so those can be managed, and we give the contractors enough space to do their work, demonstrate their competency and self-report. We work with them to meet expectations.
We’ve also helped contract owners, when they are awarding jobs, to evaluate and make difficult decisions about which contractors should be prime or not. We also ensure there’s enough space and time between various contractors, for a safe work environment. We’ve been able to apply that measure to a lot of projects very quickly.
Do contractors bring their own safety plans?
Yes, in this day and age, it’s not rare for them to bring their own elements of safety.
When you design a CSSP to be scalable across various contractors, you have to realize some will be ‘outliers’—including highly specialized single owner-operators—who are not going to have a robust health and safety program that could meet significant prequalification requirements, even though they do safe work very well. So, you need to ensure your system works with those types of individuals.
You want to start with the idea of fostering a community to execute great work safely. Not every consulting engineering firm needs subject matter expertise in this field, but they all need to recognize their role in ensuring contractor safety culture. Safety is more than a manual or a checklist. It’s about how people and organizations come together to perform.
Del Melo helps manage contractor safety for RAM’s clients.
