Smart & Biggar ranks ‘Top Tier’ with 18 ‘IP Stars’ and 10 ‘Notable Practitioners’ named in the 2022 Managing Intellectual Property guide
Smart & Biggar is proud to share that 18 partners have been listed as ‘IP Stars’ in the 2022 edition of the Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) guide. In addition to this, 10 of our trademark and patent practitioners were featured as ‘Notable Practitioners’ in the guide for their expertise and status as future IP Stars to watch.
MIP researchers note that Smart & Biggar “retains its position as one of the leading IP firms in Canada [that] is highly recommended for IP protection and disputes work” in addition to being “a boutique that maintains a significant soft IP practice” for Trademarks. They also praise the firm’s patent practice for its “technical expertise [that 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.”
Partners ranked as ‘Patent Stars’ include Allan Brett, Stephan Georgiev, Elliott Simcoe and David Schwartz who were hailed as ‘senior patent agents’ alongside ICT specialist and Firm Managing Partner Matthew Zischka and life sciences patent specialist and chair of the firm Daphne Lainson, both leaders in the firm. Also featured as notable patent practitioners in the guide were partners Christine Genge with expertise handling industrial designs, of counsel Christopher Robinson in the life sciences along with partner Alice Tseng “a pharmacist…experienced in advising on regulatory matters in the life sciences sector”.
Litigation partners 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”. Steven Garland was hailed as an “excellent all-round IP litigator” and noted for representing clients Dow Chemical in a patent infringement matter resulting in one of the largest damages awards in Canada. Jeremy Want was also ranked as a ‘Patent Star’. Notable mentions went to of counsel Gunars Gaikis and partner Evan Nuttall. Partner Jean-Sébastien Dupont, counsels Ryan Evans and Lynn Ing, and senior associate Guillaume Lavoie Ste-Marie were featured as “IP practitioners to watch”.
In MIP’s review for trademarks, Smart & Biggar is described as having “some of the leading trademark practitioners in Canada”, including partners Mark Evans, Mark Biernacki, Kohji Suzuki, Philip Lapin, along with new addition Christian Bolduc and Sanjay Goorachurn who handles transactions. Counsel Daniel Anthony was also featured as a ‘Notable Practitioner’.
This honourable recognition follows Smart & Biggar’s earlier success this year at the MIP North America Awards 2022, receiving three top firm awards and an ‘Impact Case of the Year’. Affirming our leading position in the Canadian market, Smart & Biggar was named Canada’s ‘IP Boutique Firm of the Year’ for the third consecutive year by marking the eighth win in this category for the firm since the inception of the MIP Awards. The firm was also recognized with ‘Firm of the Year’ awards for both Trademark Contentious and Patent Prosecution in Canada, upholding our distinguished and highly regarded reputation.
Smart & Biggar has long been recognized by MIP as a leader in Canada, and the firm has proudly received previous awardsthat include ‘Firm of the Year’ for Patent Prosecution (2021), Trademark Contentious (2021 and 2020), Patent Contentious (2018), and ‘IP Boutique Firm of the Year’ in Canada (2021 and 2020).
The full ranking for MIP IP Stars in patents and trademarks is available to view online.