Smart & Biggar’s François Guay, Gunars Gaikis and Steven Garland featured in the Globe and Mail's 2014 edition of Report on Business for excellence in IP Litigation
François Guay, Gunars Gaikis and Steven Garland, members of Smart & Biggar’s litigation team, have been featured in the December 2014 edition of The Globe and Mail's Report on Business magazine, showcasing top-ranked Canadian litigators.
François Guay has more than 30 years of experience and has been frequently recognized as being among the most experienced intellectual property litigators in Canada. He has argued many cases that have resulted in leading jurisprudence. In addition to being repeatedly recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and the Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide, he has been named the 2013 and 2014 Intellectual Property Litigator of the Year in the category of trademarks by Benchmark Canada.
Gunars Gaikis has specialized in pharmaceutical and biological patent litigation and strategic advising for over 20 years. He has extensive experience in procurement, litigation and resolution of disputes relating to pharmaceutical and biotechnology patents and has appeared as lead counsel in numerous intellectual property cases before the Ontario, Federal and Supreme courts. He has been recognized each year by both the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and the Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide and was most recently named Best Lawyers' 2013 Toronto Biotechnology Law Lawyer of the Year and one of the top thirty patent attorneys in the world by Euromoney’s Expert Guides: Best of the Best.
Steven Garland has over 20 years of experience in intellectual property litigation of all types and has appeared as counsel in intellectual property cases at both the trial and appellate levels of the Federal Court of Canada, in the Ontario Superior Court and Court of Appeal, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal of British Columbia and before the Supreme Court of Canada. He also regularly appears before the Patent Appeal Board and the Trademarks Opposition Board and has also been retained as a mediator in intellectual property disputes. Several recent decisions in which Steven has acted as successful counsel have become leading cases and have been lauded by national and international legal publications, including:
- Marlboro Canada v Phillip Morris, 2012 FCA 201 which was selected by Managing Intellectual Property as the 2013 Canadian Trademark Milestone Case of the Year;
- Amazon.com, Inc v Commissioner of Patents, 2011 FCA 328 which was recognized by Managing Intellectual Property as the 2012 Canadian Patent Case of the Year; and
- Amazon.com, Inc v Commissioner of Patents, 2010 FC 1011 which was chosen by LEXPERT Magazine as the 2010 Canadian Business Case of the Year.
In addition to being repeatedly recognized each year by both the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and the Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide, he has been named the 2013 Intellectual Property Litigator of the Year in the category of trademarks by Benchmark Canada. Steven Garland, along with his colleague, François Guay named above, were the only two litigators in Canada to receive this prominent recognition. In addition, Steven has been named Best Lawyers' 2013 Ottawa Intellectual Property Law Lawyer of the Year.
The special edition of Canada’s highest-ranked litigation lawyers appeared in the December 2014 issue of the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine. The rankings are based on Lexpert’s annual survey of leading lawyers across Canada, which identifies leading law firms and practitioners by surveying thousands of respected Canadian lawyers, corporate counsel and other professionals across 61 practice areas. Inclusion in the Directory is an acknowledgement of excellence by a practitioner’s own peers and colleagues.
Click here to view the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory's Special Edition on Litigation.