Canada’s go-to firm for brand protection and trademark litigation
In today’s highly competitive business environment, successfully and efficiently enforcing trademark rights and avoiding infringement is critical to protecting a company’s valuable goodwill and reputation.
In high-stakes litigation, we know what it takes to win and are committed to protecting our clients’ brands by vigorously enforcing their trademarks against misuse and infringement. No other firm can claim a more successful track record in trademark litigation than Smart & Biggar, and we have successfully represented our clients in numerous precedent-setting trademark cases in the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Canada, and in the Provincial Courts of Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.
We have obtained groundbreaking judgments for our clients covering a vast spectrum of industries and ranging in subject matter from product appearance and trade dress infringement to the protection of pharmaceutical trade rights, from counterfeiting remedies and online trademark use to cross-border trademark rights, from the protection of iconic brand colours to the dilution of famous marks, from innovative pre-trial relief to landmark damage awards.
Our accomplished and formidable team works closely with brand owners to develop sophisticated and strategic brand enforcement programs, which might involve creating online and marketplace monitoring programs, and working with and coordinating survey firms, experts, investigators, and law enforcement and customs officials. Through our many courtroom successes we also have a sharp understanding of when litigation may not be the best option, and when a dispute might be resolved through settlement, mediation or other forms of ADR.
"Smart & Biggar is a major top-tier national firm. This gold-studded outfit is in a premier position to handle absolutely anything related to intellectual property. Make-or-break disputes are the meat and drink [of this] force to be reckoned with..." (World Trademark Review)
Widely recognized internationally and within the Canadian legal community, Smart & Biggar has repeatedly been ranked at the top of the Canadian trademarks field by World Trademark Review, chosen as Canada’s Trademark Contentious Firm of the Year by MIP, and chosen as Canada’s IP Litigation Firm of the Year by Benchmark Litigation. Several of our partners have also been honoured with awards such as Canadian Trademark Litigator of the Year and several of our trademark litigation victories for our clients have received awards for being Milestone Cases by each of these publications.