Xerox Honours its Inventors at Annual Intellectual Awards

With a record 178 patents granted in a single year (2014), there was definitely reason to celebrate the achievements of the scientists, engineers, and researchers who make the Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) a global innovation hub.

The annual Intellectual Property Awards Gala was held on November 11, 2015  at the Oakville Golf and Country Club. Paul Smith, XRCC Vice President and Centre Manager, presented the patent awards. “XRCC continues to evolve and while we must celebrate the significant accomplishments tonight, we need to look at these patents and trade secrets in the context of our future direction. Continuing to protect the future of Xerox technology business through differentiation for new and emerging markets is critical to our core mandate”, said Smith. 

To close the evening, the XRCC recipients of the Anne Mulcahy Award were announced and recognized. The purpose of this special award is to recognize significant contributions to the creation of Xerox intellectual property (IP) and to encourage IP development amongst the technical community. 

Naveen Chopra and Peter Odell received the award for their work on Xerox’s UV curable gel ink technology IP portfolio, which contains over 60 U.S. patents. 

Naveen, who began working in inks in 2007, contributed heavily to the UV gel ink composition of matter and specification patents. Peter, who, although he passed in 2013, continues to have tens of patents published each year. This speaks to his talent as an inventor. Odell was a pioneer of UV curable ink technology and holds over 170 patents. He is greatly missed.

The evening’s program also included remarks from Al Varney (‎President & CEO, Xerox Canada), Sophie Vandebroek (chief technology officer of Xerox and president of the Xerox Innovation Group), and Sam Soong (XRCC patent attorney). In a congratulatory letter form Xerox CEO and Chairman Ursula Burns recipients were recognized as “part of a special breed of people who combine curiosity, restlessness, intellect, discipline and perseverance to add to the knowledge of mankind”. 

Milestone patents were awarded to:

1st: Simon Burke, Majid Kamel, Sarah J. Vella

25th: Maria Mihaela Birau, Adrien P. Cote, Gregory McGuire, Carolyn Moorlag, Kentaro Morimitsu, Jordan Wosnick

50th: Michelle Chretien, Sandra J. Gardner

75th: Jennifer L. Belelie, Cuong Vong

100th: Edward G. Zwartz

125th: Naveen Chopra

150th: Peter Odell, Richard P.N. Veregin

200th: Nan-Xing Hu; Guerino Sacripante

Contact: 

Michael Demone
Xerox Research  Centre of Canada
michael.demone@xerox.com