Smart & Biggar a leader in Canadian IP with 17 ‘IP Stars’ and 12 notable practitioners in 2021 Managing Intellectual Property guide
Smart & Biggar is pleased to share that seventeen partners have been named ‘2021 IP Stars’ by Managing Intellectual Property (MIP). Additionally, twelve of our trademark and patent practitioners were given mention as ‘Notable Practitioners’ for their expertise and status as future IP Stars to watch.
MIP researchers describe Smart & Biggar as a “firm [that] consistently delivers for clients in both patent protection and patent disputes work”, and as having a “trademark bench [featuring] some of the leading IP practitioners in Canada”. Along with the list of IP Stars, MIP also released the 2021 firm rankings for Trademarks with Smart & Biggar topping the charts for both contentious and non-contentious work.
Given special mention in MIP’s review for patents are Elliott Simcoe, Daphne Lainson and Matthew Zischka as “notable senior patent agents for filing and prosecution work”, while Christine Genge (notable) is mentioned for her ‘deep knowledge in [industrial] design law and practice’. Also ranked were Allan Brett, Stephan Georgiev, Chris Robinson (notable) and David Schwartz.
Lauded as “prominent practitioners” in our litigation practice are Steven Garland and François Guay; while Mark Biernacki and Guillaume Lavoie Ste-Marie (notable) were cited for their experience in dealing with copyright disputes. Jeremy Want was also listed while Jean-Sébastien Dupont, Ryan Evans and Evan Nuttall were identified as notable practitioners.
In Trademarks, Mark Evans, Steven Garland, Philip Lapin are noted to be “among the leading IP practitioners in Canada”. Mark Biernacki and Kohji Suzuki were also listed while Sanjay Goorachurn was recognized for his work on transactions involving trademarks. Christian Bolduc was cited as a notable practitioner alongside Daniel Anthony as a future IP Star.
In the Life Sciences, in addition to the firm’s strength in patent prosecution, Yoon Kang and Sheldon Hamilton were lauded as ‘prominent practitioners’ in pharmaceutical litigation, while Alice Tseng (notable) was recognized for her experience advising clients on regulatory matters. Also listed were Nancy Pei and Gunars Gaikis (notable), while Abigail Smith and Lynn Ing were identified as future IP Stars in Life Sciences.
Earlier this year, Smart & Biggar proudly received honours in four award categories at the MIP North America Awards, including “IP Boutique Firm of the Year” and “Patent Prosecution Firm of the Year” for Canada. The firm was also awarded “Canadian Impact Case of the Year” for our successful representation in Nova Chemicals Corporation v Dow Chemicals Company. Steven Garland, who was successful lead counsel for Dow Chemicals, was named Canada’s “Patent Practitioner of the Year”.
The full ranking for MIP IP Stars in patents and trademarks can be found here.
Smart & Biggar is widely recognized as Canada’s leading firm for intellectual property law, with offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. We are leaders in intellectual property and technology law and have been serving clients for over a century.