People

Smart & Biggar is Canada’s largest and highest ranked intellectual property firm. Our reputation and strength is a measure of the quality of our people, and we are proud to have the broadest and deepest bench for IP in Canada. With over 100 lawyers, patent agents and trademark agents, we offer legal expertise and technological knowledge across a wide range of industries and scientific and engineering disciplines, with leaders in every field.

Services

Today’s fast-paced innovation economy demands a higher level of expertise and attention to detail when it comes to IP. Our highly skilled team of lawyers, patent agents and trademark agents advise clients on a wide variety of strategic business, brand and technology matters leveraging their deep expertise in intellectual property to help them succeed with IP.

Industries

Across all industries, intellectual property is at the heart of innovation and is key to accelerating business value and growth. Developing a clear IP strategy and knowing how to tap and leverage IP to align with business goals can unlock competitive advantages and make the difference between industry leaders and followers.

Insights

At the forefront of IP in Canada, and actively involved as leaders in industry committees and associations, we stay up-to-date and proactively report on the latest developments in intellectual property law in Canada and around the world. Breaking IP news, changes in the law, important new decisions, and information on key IP issues are provided here through our IP publications and resources.

Careers

Many of the world's most commercially important innovators and most prominent brands trust Smart & Biggar to protect and enforce their IP and to provide them with strategic IP counsel. We have developed a reputation as a firm of talented lawyers and patent and trademark agents with integrity, business savvy and tremendous acumen. That’s why we look for the brightest people with combined talent and strengths in law, business, science and technology.

Who we are

Smart & Biggar is widely recognized as Canada’s leading firm for intellectual property, and with over 100 lawyers, patent agents and trademark agents in five offices, we are also Canada’s largest firm focused purely on IP and related specialty areas.

Rankings & Recognition

Benchmark Canada shortlists Smart & Biggar for Canada’s IP Litigation Firm of the Year, and 2 partners for Canada’s IP Litigation Lawyer of the Year

January 29, 2018

Smart & Biggar is pleased to be shortlisted for Benchmark Canada’s IP Litigation Firm of the Year. Smart & Biggar was chosen as Canada’s IP Litigation Firm of the Year for each of the last three previous years.

We would also like to congratulate our partners Gunars Gaikis and Steven Garland for being shortlisted for consideration as Canada’s IP Litigation Lawyer of the Year.

Gunars Gaikis was successful lead counsel in AstraZeneca Canada Inc v Apotex Inc, 2017 SCC 36, which resulted in the Supreme Court of Canada abolishing the controversial “promise of the patent” doctrine, under which patentees had to prove that the claimed invention was useful for any “promised” uses found in the specification. This judge-made doctrine had been invoked to invalidate numerous patents over the past decade.

Steve Garland was successful lead counsel in The Dow Chemical Company v Nova Chemical Corporation, 2017 FC 637, which resulted in Dow being awarded $645 million, the largest patent infringement award in Canadian history.

Award winners will be announced at the Benchmark Canada awards ceremony, to be held on Thursday, February 22 2018 at the Intercontinental Toronto.

To see the full list of nominees, please visit the Benchmark Litigation website.

Benchmark Canada is dedicated to covering litigation practitioners and firms across Canada. The results presented stem from the culmination of extensive peer reviews and interviews with Canadian litigators that take place over a four month research period. Over the course of the interviews, recent casework that has been handled by the firms is examined and sources are asked to offer their professional opinions on litigators practicing within their province or practice area(s) across the country.

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Smart & Biggar is Canada's largest firm practising exclusively in intellectual property and technology law, with offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. As leaders in intellectual property and technology law Smart & Biggar has been serving clients for over a century. For more information, please visit smart-biggar.ca.

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