| Intellectual capital, as opposed to traditional conceptions of intellectual property, is neither as simple to define nor as straightforward to protect and regulate. As companies in the financial services sector attempt the efficient management of increasingly voluminous and strategically important information and knowledge, governance mechanisms currently available in the Canadian context have not kept pace.; This thesis is at once a retrospective and prospective examination of the regulation and control of intellectual capital. The first two substantive sections of this thesis are primarily definitive and contextualizing---first defining the nature of contemporary legal and managerial concepts of intellectual capital and property, then examining the varied legal frameworks from which an intellectual capital governance scheme is distilled. The final chapter attempts a synthesis of these definitions and legal approaches to the governance of intellectual capital. The keystones of this synthesis are twofold: first, uniform Canadian legislation; and second, a more focused incorporation of 'property rights' in intellectual capital. |
