Smart & Biggar leads the market with 16 ‘IP Stars’ named in the 2023 Managing Intellectual Property guide
Smart & Biggar is pleased to announce that 16 Principals from our Patents and Trademark practice groups have been listed as ‘IP Stars’ in the 2023 edition of the Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) guide. Leading the market, the firm is proud to have the most practitioners listed for both trademarks and patents in Canada.
MIP researchers commented that Smart & Biggar “retains its position as one of the leading IP firms in Canada” and is “highly recommended for IP protection and disputes work.” They highlighted the firm’s “technical expertise for patent work” noting that it is “quite broad, covering areas such as life sciences, software/ICT, electronics, and mechanical engineering” with “patent practitioners [who] are dual qualified to deal with both patent protection and litigation”.
Principals who were ranked as ‘Patent Stars’ include Allan Brett, Elliott Simcoe and David Schwartz who were hailed as ‘notable senior patent agents’ alongside ICT specialist and Firm Managing Director Matthew Zischka and life sciences patent specialist Daphne Lainson.
Litigation Principals Nancy Pei, Yoon Kang, Sheldon Hamilton and François Guay were given honourable mention in the review as “among the prominent patent litigators in the firm”. Jeremy Want was also ranked as a ‘Patent Star’ and Steven Garland was regarded as an “excellent all-round IP litigator”.
In MIP’s review for trademarks, Smart & Biggar is described as having “some of the leading trademark practitioners in Canada”, including Principals Mark Evans, Mark Biernacki, Christian Bolduc, Philip Lapin, and Kohji Suzuki. Elliott Simcoe and Steven Garland stand out with inclusion in the guide as both ‘Patent and Trademark Stars’.
This high praise follows Smart & Biggar’s earlier success this year at the MIP North America Awards 2023, receiving a top firm award and an ‘Impact Case of the Year’ accolade. Reflecting our leading position in the Canadian market, Smart & Biggar was awarded the ‘Patent Prosecution Firm of the Year’ award, for the fourth time, recognizing our top-level handling of patent portfolio management, filing and overall prosecution strategy for innovation-focused clients.
Smart & Biggar has long been recognized by MIP as a leader in Canada, and the firm has proudly received previous awards that include ‘Firm of the Year’ for Patent Prosecution (2022), Trademark Contentious (2022, 2021 and 2020), Patent Contentious (2018), and ‘IP Boutique Firm of the Year’ in Canada (2022, 2021 and 2020).
The full ranking for MIP IP Stars in patents and trademarks is available to view online.
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 operates as part of the IPH Limited group, under its own brand and independent from other IPH member firms.