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