|
|
intellectual property
McMillan's Intellectual Property Group is recognized as one of the leading intellectual property practices in Canada. Our success is built on our expertise in crafting sound intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement strategies that help our clients maximize the value of their critical IP assets.
Areas of expertise include:
- Patents and industrial designs
- Trade-marks and internet domain names
- Copyright
- Licensing and IP transactions
- IP and technology litigation
- Trade secrets
- IP portfolio management
- IP due diligence in corporate transactions
- Freedom to operate opinions (infringement, validity, patentability)
- Outsourcing of information systems management services
- Procurement, licensing and integration of software applications
For over 40 years, McMillan has helped Canadian and international clients protect and secure their valuable IP. Our team of over 20 IP practitioners includes lawyers, patent and trade-mark agents, scientific consultants and law clerks. Many of our IP professionals have degrees in science such as chemistry, biology, mathematics, physics and engineering, and many have advanced degrees which enable them to have the strong technical expertise required for a deep understanding of our client's businesses and the IP they are protecting.
Members of our IP Group have been individually recognized for their expertise by leading national and international directories and organizations such as:
- The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory;
- The Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada published by Lexpert and American Lawyer Media;
- Chambers Global The World's Leading Lawyers;
- Legal Media Group's, Guide to the World's Leading Patent Law Practitioners;
- The MIP World IP Survey, conducted annually by Managing Intellectual Property magazine;
- Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers and Who's Who Legal directories;
- The Best Lawyers in Canada.
We advise on intellectual property protection, portfolio management and licensing for companies and organizations of all sizes, in Canada and around the world. We are very proud to include amongst our clients, some of the world's largest companies and best known brands. We also act for start-ups and entrepreneurs.
We secure protection for our clients' inventions, brands and creative work. We have acted as counsel at trial and on appeal in many of the most significant intellectual property decisions in Canada. Our lawyers appear regularly in patent, trade-mark and copyright litigation before the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. We also appear in litigation, arbitrations and mediations concerning infringement of rights, passing off, misuse of confidential information, and contract disputes before provincial Superior Courts and Courts of Appeal, as well as in appeals from the Trade-marks Opposition Board. Our lawyers also appear before the Trade-marks Opposition Board in respect of opposition and summary expungement proceedings and before arbitration panels in respect of domain name dispute resolution proceedings. McMillan also has significant pharmaceutical litigation experience including proceedings under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations.
For a representative list of IP litigation cases, please refer to our "IP Litigation Cases" fact sheet.
We represent clients in a wide range of industries including:
- Media and telecommunications
- Pharmaceuticals
- Manufacturing
- Technology and software
- Electronics
- Chemicals
- E-commerce
- Life sciences and biotechnology
- Consumer products
- Energy
- Government
- Not-for-profit
Our clients benefit from McMillan's IP Group being part of a larger, full-service law firm. Our IP lawyers regularly work with lawyers in our corporate, commercial, competition and securities practice areas to address intellectual property issues including advising clients on protecting their intangible assets through registering patents, copyrights and trade-marks; drafting confidentiality and non-competition agreements; developing intellectual property protection strategies; and handling intellectual property litigation. In particular, our Business Law Group, supported by the IP Group, has extensive experience representing both buyers and sellers in acquisitions, mergers and divestitures of businesses involving intellectual property. McMillan has extensive experience in information systems management outsourcing transactions having acted as counsel in several of the largest such transactions in Canada.
In addition to McMillan's reputation in intellectual property matters, we are also considered one of the leading firms in Canada for advertising and marketing related legal matters and can assist our clients with issues related to advertising, packaging, labelling, regulatory requirements, franchise and distribution agreements and privacy related issues.
Publications / Presentations
|
|
Karl E. Gustafson, QC
604.691.7427
Sharon E. Groom
416.865.7152
Dale E. Schlosser
416.307.4110
|
|