Intellectual Property Litigation

We pursue and defend patent infringement claims in the Federal Court, where nearly all Canadian patent litigation is heard. A patent claim rises or falls on how the invention actually works, not on the wording of the claims alone. We retain the technical experts needed to establish infringement or its absence before the claim construction hearing.

We challenge and defend the validity of patents on grounds of anticipation, obviousness and insufficient disclosure. Using the prior art record and expert evidence on the state of the art, we test whether a patent should have issued at all. That analysis often ends a dispute before an infringement trial is ever needed.

We manage patent litigation through the Federal Court’s specialized rules, including claims construction, discovery of technical documents and expert reports on both sides. We prepare the technical record with the same rigour a patent examiner applied at grant. Our aim is to bring a claim to trial, or to a negotiated resolution, on a record that withstands scrutiny.

We resolve disputes over patent licence royalties, field-of-use restrictions and termination rights. Whether you are the licensor collecting royalties or the licensee defending your right to keep operating under the licence, the agreement’s exact wording usually decides the outcome. Most licence disputes settle once the wording is tested, but we prepare each file to go to trial if it does not.

We pursue and defend claims for infringement of a registered trademark under the Trademarks Act. Confusion between two marks is measured by the impression they leave on an ordinary consumer, not by a side-by-side comparison in a courtroom. We build the survey and market evidence needed to prove or answer that impression convincingly.

We advance and defend claims for passing off, where a business uses a name, logo or trade dress that misleads the public into thinking two businesses are connected. Rights holders reach for this remedy when a mark is not registered, and defendants deserve to have the claim tested rather than assumed. We pursue valid passing off claims and contest the ones that are not.

We oppose confusingly similar trademark applications before the Trademarks Opposition Board and pursue removal of marks abandoned through non-use. Using the filing history and evidence of actual use in the Canadian market, we build the record the Board and the Federal Court require. That record is what separates a mark worth defending from one that should never have registered.

We act for brand owners against the sale of counterfeit goods and represent importers and retailers accused of selling them unknowingly. Counterfeit enforcement can move quickly, including court orders detaining suspect goods at the border before they reach store shelves. We apply for that relief when the evidence supports it and challenge detention orders that reach further than the evidence allows.

We handle claims for reproduction, distribution or public communication of copyrighted work made without authorization. We assess whether copyright actually subsists, who owns it and whether an exception such as fair dealing applies before advising on the merits. Our aim is to recover damages, an accounting of profits or an injunction, whichever remedy matches the harm.

We resolve disputes over ownership and licensing of software code, databases and technical documentation. Whether you are the developer who wrote the code or the company that commissioned it, ownership usually turns on the employment or contractor agreement rather than who typed the keys. Most of these disputes are decided on the contract, but we litigate the ones the contract leaves genuinely open.

We bring online copyright infringement claims across file-sharing sites, marketplaces and social platforms, and respond to notices alleging our own client is the infringer. Using Canada’s notice-and-notice regime and direct claims against the operator or the user, we identify the fastest route to stop ongoing copying. That route is rarely the same twice, which is why we choose it case by case rather than by template.

We defend creators, educators and businesses accused of infringing someone else’s copyright. Fair dealing permits copying for purposes such as research, criticism, news reporting or education, but only within limits the courts assess case by case. We build the factual record that shows the copying served one of those purposes and stayed within a fair scope.

We act on breach of confidence claims where a competitor, a former partner or a departing employee has used confidential information without consent. Using the three-part common law test, whether the information was truly confidential, disclosed under an obligation, and then misused, we assess exposure before advising on next steps. That test is Canada’s substitute for the trade secret statute other countries rely on.

We advise on and litigate disputes that arise when an employee leaves for a competitor. Employers need to stop client lists, source code or pricing strategy from leaving with the employee, and the employee needs clear advice on what they are actually free to take. We enforce restrictive covenants that hold up and contest the ones drafted too broadly to be enforceable.

We enforce and defend non-disclosure agreements once a relationship built on trust breaks down and confidential information moves anyway. Using the agreement’s actual definition of confidential information, rather than what either party assumed it meant, we test whether the disclosure was covered at all. That threshold question decides most of these disputes before damages are ever discussed.

We apply for Anton Piller orders and interim injunctions when evidence of infringement is likely to disappear before a case is heard on its merits. We prepare the sworn evidence and the safeguards Canadian courts require before granting an order that lets a rights holder search premises and preserve evidence without warning. Our aim is relief timed to when the harm is actually happening, not months later.

We act for rights holders seeking court orders that direct border officials to detain imported counterfeit or infringing goods before they reach the Canadian market. Detention orders require security to protect the importer if the goods turn out to be legitimate, so the remedy is not free to seek. We prepare applications that meet that threshold and represent importers whose legitimate goods have been wrongly detained.

We bring and defend domain name disputes under CIRA’s policy for .ca domains and the equivalent ICANN policy for other extensions. Using the trademark registration and evidence of bad faith registration, we build the case for transfer or cancellation of a domain used to divert traffic from a brand owner. That process resolves most domain disputes in months, well ahead of a Federal Court hearing.

We advise brand owners and importers on when grey market goods crossing into Canada can be stopped, and when they cannot. Canadian courts generally treat parallel importation of authentic goods as lawful competition rather than infringement, whichever side of that trade brought us in. We pursue and defend the narrower claims, misrepresentation, altered packaging or a broken distribution agreement, that can succeed where a straightforward infringement claim would not.