2023 - Canadian IP Year in Review

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.

Hehe, not Hehe: Meme marketing & advertising law in Canada
Who owns AI-generated creations – and why you should care

Canadian IP Voices: Episode 26
Marketing & advertising tips, traps and trends for 2023
A fine line: Green branding or greenwashing?
Canadian patent fees to increase in 2024: The first comprehensive fee hike in 20 years
Power Play: Federal Court’s decision in Energizer Brands, LLC v Gillette Company narrows test for depreciation of goodwill in comparative advertising cases
A first look at Canada’s proposed patent term adjustment system
Federal Court of Canada launches specialized Intellectual Property Chambers pilot project
Quebec’s “IP Box”: A tax incentive for the commercialization of IP
Top ten considerations for creating an effective anti-counterfeiting program

View all IP Updates

Top 10 Most-Read Rx IP Updates of 2023

Update on biosimilars in Canada – March 2023
Supreme Court of Canada denies Apotex leave to appeal ONCA olanzapine Statutes of Monopolies decision
Obviousness of Lilly’s tadalafil (CIALIS) dosage form patent stands
Lilly’s CIALIS patent claims extending to “physiologically acceptable salt” found invalid for overbreadth and insufficiency
Federal Court dismisses Takeda’s motion to consolidate two dexlansoprazole PMNOC actions against Apotex
pCPA announces new three-year pricing initiative agreement for generic drugs with CGPA, appointment of Douglas Clark as its first CEO
Federal Court refuses stay of impeachment action despite patentee’s pending re-examination
PM(NOC) Regulations: Six-year anniversary of major amendments
PMPRB releases proposed amendment to Interim Guidance for comment
Declaration of infringement does not preclude further NOA based on invalidity