IPLAI Great Trials: The Trial of Percy Schmeiser

The Trial of Percy Schmeiser

Professor Tina Piper, Department of Law
The Trial of Percy Schmeiser

In 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada found Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser liable for patent infringement for growing genetically modified canola that he said blew onto his farm. This ruling allowed the possibility that some life might be patentable and had huge implications for farmers across Canada. This lecture will consider how this trial has led to a grassroots farmers' revolt, changed farming practices, upended patent law and affected the food we eat.

About The Great Trials

IPLAI's Great Trials lecture series considers a collection of history-making trials across time and examines the social and political contexts in which they took place as well as their cultural consequences. The series takes the position that ‘law’ happens as much outside the courtroom as it does within it, and that each of these pivotal events stands as testament to the ways in which constructions of authority, law, and justice have informed cultural consciousness across centuries.

IPLAI is pleased to offer the lectures in this series for CLE credit through the Barreau du Québec.

Where: Westmount Library, 4574 Sherbrooke St. W.
When: All lectures will begin at 5:30pm

Registration fees: $15 for individual lectures. Registration at the door the day of each lecture may be possible, but places will be limited and we cannot guarantee that seats will be available. Cheques only, payable to McGill University. We will be unable to accept cash at the door.