How OptiSeis Solutions Built an IP Strategy It Actually Uses

IP Strategy in Practice

OptiSeis came to IAC already putting serious time into technology development, so the gap was never whether IP mattered, it was how many forms it can take.

“I think the important thing was to understand all the different ways IP can be protected,
and that’s maybe what we were lacking in knowledge when we first started the process.”

What membership changed was the follow-through as much as the filing. Andrea describes a strategy that stays in service rather than one that gets completed once, crediting IAC with helping the company “maintain our strong IP protection strategy”, which allowed it “to not only file initial applications but also ensure we are upkeeping the maintenance”. Protection that lapses quietly is a common way for a small company to lose ground, and upkeep is the unglamorous half that prevents it.

The training also reached past the founders. Workshops IAC hosted in Calgary brought the wider team in, and the online courses became how new hires are brought up to speed, so the knowledge arrives with each person rather than sitting with one. What Andrea describes at the end is a document in use rather than on file: “you can refer back to it all the time, and you should be using it as you develop new IP.”

The IAC membership has been quite helpful for putting other employees in our company through IP training.

Andrea Crook, CEO and Co-Founder, OptiSeis Solutions

About OptiSeis Solutions

OptiSeis Solutions Ltd. was founded in Calgary in 2011, in response to a seismic exploration landscape that was changing quickly as field equipment shrank and data volumes grew. The company designs seismic surveys and provides processing, interpretation and software for subsurface imaging, working across oil and gas, critical minerals, carbon capture and storage, geothermal and nuclear. Its EcoSeis project is aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of acquiring seismic data.