Can You Make Money with Your Idea or Invention?

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

Can You Make Money ...? may be a well-intentioned book, but because of
its out-of-date information and lack of depth, it is not a useful
addition to library collections.

In 1989, Bill C–22 was passed, giving Canada new intellectual
property legislation. Parts of this book refer to practices that were
appropriate under the old legislation (e.g., caveats, which are not used
under the current legislation, are described). There is also information
related to establishing the date of invention, in spite of the fact that
Bill C–22 made Canada a “first-to-file” country, rather than a
“first-to-invent” country. While the United States is a
“first-to-invent” country and the disclosure documents described in
this book are useful there, Lunny gives no indication in the text that
he is not discussing Canadian practice.

Many of the facts in this book can be found in four up-to-date
federal-government question-and-answer pamphlets about patents,
copyright, industrial design, and trademarks. These pamphlets provide
answers to most laypersons’ questions about intellectual property and
are freely available from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and
its intermediaries across the country. As for information about patents
(the focus of much of this book), Sheldon Burshtein’s Patent Your Own
Invention in Canada presents a more thorough and current examination of
the subject.