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 180 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 180 lawyers, patent agents and trademark agents in six offices, we are also Canada’s largest firm focused purely on IP and related specialty areas.

Media Mention

Nicholas Aitken discusses invention harvesting in IPHQ News

December 18, 2025

Invention harvesting is a concept that involves prompting and capturing a company’s internally generated inventions or ideas, including those whose significance has not yet been fully realized. However, implementing a policy for this can be challenging. Counsel Nicholas Aitken discusses invention harvesting as a way for companies to maximize IP potential in IPHQ News.

“If intellectual property [IP] is a valuable asset for a company—which it is these days for many—invention harvesting is a very good thing to do because it is the first step in obtaining patent protection.”
Nicholas Aitken

Read the full article on IPHQ News, the IP news and insights platform of IPH Limited: Invention Harvesting: How to Fully Tap Your Company’s IP Potential

Related Person

Nicholas Aitken
- he/him/his
Counsel
- Smart & Biggar LP
- T:416.957.1620
- naitken@smartbiggar.ca
- Toronto

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Nicholas Aitken discusses invention harvesting in IPHQ News