Smart & Biggar appoints four new Practice Group Leaders
Smart & Biggar is proud to announce our newly appointed Practice Group Leaders who will be responsible for managing our practice area and guiding our lawyers and agents to continue to deliver best-in-class service to our clients.
Matthew Zischka, Managing Director of Smart & Biggar said “I’m delighted to announce these appointments and welcome our new Practice Group Leaders to our firm’s executive team. Each of them is very well-regarded as a leader in intellectual property and has achieved outstanding results for their clients in addition to demonstrating exemplary organizational leadership strengths”.
Graham Hood, Practice Group Leader, Trademarks
Graham Hood is a Principal in our Trademarks practice group, based in our Toronto office. Graham’s counsel is sought after by leading brand owners to help build and protect their brands and reputations across Canada and around the world. With over a decade of experience advising brand owners, Graham is trusted by clients for his actionable and business-minded advice and provides pragmatic advice to help clients achieve their goals and address risks in a cost-effective and straightforward manner. His no-nonsense approach to finding practical solutions for clients has become a personal trademark. Graham's litigation practice covers both the Federal and the provincial courts and extends to actions and summary applications for passing off, trademark and trade dress infringement, depreciation of goodwill and the importation, distribution, marketing and sale of counterfeit goods. As the firm’s leading expert in anti-counterfeiting, Graham is also experienced in developing customized, anti-counterfeiting strategies for brand owners, while protecting their marks both online, across e-commerce marketplaces and social media platforms, and at Canada’s borders, working closely with Canada Border Services Agency to enforce clients’ trademarks and copyrights.
Jonas Gifford, Practice Group Leader, Patents: EICT (Engineering, and Information and Communications Technology)
Jonas Gifford is a principal in our EICT patent practice group and is based in our Vancouver office. With over 15 years of experience, Jonas has been trusted by a wide variety of clients in the technology sector — including start-ups, universities, small to mid-size enterprises, and multinational companies — to provide them with timely patent prosecution and strategic advice tailored to their specific protection needs. Jonas has a long track record of skillfully and successfully assisting clients with obtaining and asserting commercially valuable patent protection in electrical, computer, and mechanical fields, in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia. He regularly provides opinions related to validity, infringement, and freedom to operate and his practice also includes assisting clients with seeking valuable industrial design protection. He is trusted by clients to leverage their intellectual property rights and maximize their opportunities to achieve their business goals and providing strategic advice which is expertly tailored to meet specific protection and other business needs. Clients appreciate that Jonas not only shares the same enthusiasm and passion for their innovative ideas but that his advanced knowledge of physics and computer science allows him to understand their inventions more efficiently and comprehensively to allow him to provide pragmatic and cost-effective solutions to complex problems.
Daphne Lainson, Practice Group Leader, Patents: Life Sciences and Chem/Bio
Daphne Lainson is a Principal in our Life Sciences and Chem/Bio patent practice group and is located in our Ottawa office. She has been the practice group leader for close to a decade. Many of the world’s top innovators rely on Daphne’s advice and counsel over her 25 years of practice in IP law and patent agency and she has been entrusted with protecting inventions across the spectrum of chemical innovation. Partnering with her clients, Daphne is dedicated to helping innovators secure comprehensive patent protection for their chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnology-related inventions. She provides strategic advice and counselling to clients across the life cycle of a drug, including during pre-clinical and clinical development through to marketing and loss of exclusivity. She also offers strategic advice regarding patents and data protection, including patent listing under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations, Certificates of Supplementary Protection, pricing and reimbursement including Patented Medicine Prices Review Board matters (PMPRB). An enthusiastic champion of her clients’ business interests, Daphne safeguards intellectual property rights relating to new drugs, biologics, medical devices, consumer products, agrochemicals, specialty chemicals, industrial chemical processes, oil, gas and petrochemicals.
Jean-Sébastien Dupont, Practice Group Leader, IP Litigation and Legal
Jean-Sébastien Dupont is a Principal in our IP Litigation and Legal practice group and is in our Montréal office. An accomplished IP litigator, Jean-Sébastien is committed to providing legal solutions and achieving results that fit with clients’ short- and long-term business plans. Earning trust is key to Jean-Sébastien’s effectiveness, enabling him to act on behalf of his clients in a timely and strategic manner and clients rely on him to present potential options and to provide decisive guidance on the best course of action. Focusing on intellectual property litigation in the areas of patents, copyright and trademarks, Jean-Sébastien has been involved in a wide range of complex cases and trials before the Federal Court and Superior Court of Québec. His practice includes all aspects of litigation from preparing and initiating new court proceedings to finding and working with technical and financial experts; preparing and arguing various motions; as well as preparing and presenting evidence, and witnesses and submissions to the courts. Jean-Sébastien also has significant experience in the conduct of appeals before the Federal Court of Appeal and Court of Appeal of Québec.
About Smart & Biggar
Smart & Biggar is widely recognized as Canada’s leading intellectual property firm, with offices in Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. We are leaders in intellectual property and have been serving clients for over a century. Smart & Biggar is a member of the IPH Limited group.