Intellectual Property
Our established IP team, which includes 10 trademark agents across Atlantic Canada, can help your business by:
- Protecting your name or logo so you don’t risk losing it to another business elsewhere in Canada
- Providing clarity around who owns the copyright in your marketing and online content
- Establishing guidelines for your employees about what they can or cannot do with your IP
- Stopping a competitor, infringer or squatter from using your domain name
- Licensing a software product or developing an application
- Helping you respond to a Cease and Desist letter on IP topics
- Providing advice on how to optimize your IP as security for financing or as part of a corporate transaction
We help our clients build and protect their intellectual property, under copyright, trademark, trade secret and other aspects of IP, including:
Copyright
- Copyright protection including registrations in Canada and elsewhere
- Licensing, assignments and other copyright agreements
- Due diligence for transactions affected by copyright and other IP
- Copyright infringement claims in provincial and federal courts
- Copyright opinions regarding potential claims
- Copyright opinions on chain of title/ownership, including for financing transactions
- Copyright clearance and content review
- Online copyright issues including websites
Trademarks
- Trademark searches to determine availability
- Trademark applications (inside and outside Canada through our connections with international counsel)
- Oppositions (to trademark applications) and related proceedings
- Trademark infringement and passing-off claims in provincial and federal courts
- Trademark opinions regarding potential claims
- Expungement proceedings
- Trademark licensing and agreements
- Due diligence for transactions affected by trademarks and other IP
- Trademark portfolio strategy including cross-border
- Trademark co-existence agreements
- Domain names, websites and social media use
Our trademark agents:
- Rob Aske – Halifax
- Daniela Bassan, K.C. – Halifax
- Erin Best – St. John’s
- Donald Cameron – Charlottetown
- Charlotte Henderson – Halifax
- Richard Hirsch – Halifax
- Susan Norman – St. John’s
- Nicholas Russon – Fredericton
- Barbara E. Smith, K.C. – Charlottetown
Patents
- Licensing, assignments and other patent agreements
- Patent prosecution assistance (using patent agents and lawyers in other national and international firms)
- Interface with other IP such as copyright and trademark
- Due diligence assistance for transactions affected by patents and other IP
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