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Key practice areas
Copyright & related rights
Intellectual property
Trade mark
Patent
Designs
IP transactions
Firm overview

For more than a 125 years, the world’s top companies have looked to Gowling WLG to maximise and protect their treasured intangible assets, both at home and abroad. As the global economy grows ever more knowledge-driven and evolutionary leaps in technology transform the competitive landscape, clients continue to rely on us to help them navigate a changing intellectual property marketplace.

Full lifecycle solutions

Every step on the path to success requires a unique approach to your IP assets. From initial drafting and registration to complex enforcement matters, through to the management and monetisation of large international portfolios, our team is equipped to assist you during the entire lifecycle of your IP assets.

We’re pleased to offer strategies and solutions across the full spectrum of IP rights – with core specialisms in trademarks, brands and designs, patents, enforcement and litigation, IP transactions, trade secrets and copyright, as well as advertising and product regulation.

Borderless support

Home to more than 200 IP practitioners around the world, Gowling WLG protects intangible assets across all industry sectors and in more than 100 countries. We offer prosecution services from our offices in Canada, China, the UAE and – via our exclusive association with JurisAsia – Singapore. We match these services with robust enforcement capabilities from these offices, as well from our offices throughout Europe. This platform is complemented by an expansive network of established relationships with some of the top IP practices worldwide – ensuring you receive the very best advice wherever business takes you.

Experience you can trust

From new applications for artificial intelligence to major breakthroughs in pharmacology, it’s vital that your IP adviser be able to recognize the full value of your IP. Harnessing advanced career and educational backgrounds in science, engineering and technology, we work closely with you to develop fulsome strategies for even the most intricate inventions. This is just one of the reasons why, year after year, our professionals are recognised by some of the world’s most respected legal publications.

End-to-end legal services for your business

Outside of our IP service offering, Gowling WLG is equipped to advise you in virtually every area of law relevant to business. For our clients, including other IP firms with whom we work around the world, this is a unique benefit. Beyond the convenience of working with a single service provider, our holistic approach ensures your IP strategy neatly aligns with other areas of your business – from privacy and employment to commercial transactions.

Discover how we can help protect what makes your business unique. Contact a member of our team today.

Practice Areas & Sector Specialisations

Practice Areas: Copyright & related rights, Designs, Intellectual property (contentious), Intellectual property (prosecution), IP transactions, Life sciences IP, Patent, Patent contentious, Patent prosecution, Trade mark, Trade mark contentious, Trade mark prosecution

Address:
100 King St W #1600
Toronto
ON, M5X 1G5
Tel:+1 416-862-7525 Fax:+1 416-862-7661 Web Address:http://www.gowlingwlg.com

IPS Sponsored

2026 Edition
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Cassels Brock & Blackwell
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Stikeman Elliott
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Overview

Gowling WLG is a leader in IP in Canada. The firm's Canada IP team covers contentious and non-contentious patent work in a range of technical fields including chemistry, engineering, life sciences and TMT. Some of its patent practitioners have dual qualifications.

Laurent Massam, Matthew M Roy, Timothy C Bailey, Brian G Kingwell and Roch J Ripley are leaders in the patent practice. Bailey, Roy, Ripley and Kingwell specialise in patent protection work while Massam is a litigator. Michael Crichton, Christopher Van Barr and R Nelson Godfrey are also recommended for patent disputes. Alex Gloor is one to watch in patent litigation. Other experienced patent agents in the firm are James Baker, Konrad Sechley, Shahrzad Esmaili, Brian Lee, James Longwell, and Christopher Bown.

The firm is also highly recommended for trade mark and copyright work. Martha J Savoy, Kelly Gill, Stuart Ash, Peter Choe, Natalie Rizkalla-Kamel, Michelle Easton, Lori Hall and Shelagh Carnegie are among the key trade mark practitioners in the firm. Savoy leads the trade mark department. Gill and Choe are recommended for soft IP disputes whereas Hall and Carnegie specialise in brand protection. Ash and Rizkalla-Kamel are also noted for their transactions practice.

For copyright, the firm has lawyers like Susan H Abramovitch, Matthew Estabrooks, Stéphane E Caron and Lynne Watt. Abramovitch, who leads the entertainment department, is experienced in advising clients in the creative industries. Generalist IP litigators Massam, James Green and Kevin Sartorio can also handle copyright disputes. Paul Armitage and Regina Corrigan are notable tech/IP transactions specialists in the firm.

Testimonials

2025

"Consistently great communication."

"Cost effective—right counsel on file based on level of risk. Clear advice; highly responsive; and keeps me well-informed."

“Easy to understand and offer the best strategies to guarantee our clients' trade mark rights in Canada."

"Excellent and timely service, reasonable rates, high level of expertise."

"Excellent strategic and practical advice. Good value for money. Sound use of firm resources with engaged juniors and partners.”

"Experience, talent, value."

"Expertise in international patent law, and responsiveness."

"Extremely responsive, knowledgeable of patent litigation, good strategic advice."

"Good communication skills, highly intelligent problem solvers."

"Good partner. Reasonably equipped to handle most scenarios."

"Gowling WLG have proven they can manage any of our IP and business needs.” 

"Great attentiveness and communication."

"I appreciate their lack of formalities, to help get to the point. They offer solid advice, which is responsive and reasonably priced."

"I know Gowling WLG will provide sound advice in a timely manner, so I entrust them with our main clients' work."

"I like the services they provide, I appreciate how flexible they are on budget, and I like the free seminars, that I get invited to."

"Integrity, honesty, wholesome advice."

"I've developed excellent long-term working relationships with the various partners at Gowling that I interact with. I trust them, and they have always provided excellent service and advice."

"I've worked with Gowling WLG for many years, and they are high quality lawyers."

"Long history of reasonably priced, responsive work."

"Offer professional services and knowledgeable personnel."

"Practical and solutions-oriented mentality. They know our culture.  High quality work coupled with speed and always available to help. Out of the box thinking, not afraid to propose innovative ideas."

"Professional and collegial lawyers who are very knowledgeable and skilled in patent litigation. They understand the industry and business and always have our best interests top of mind."

"Professional and down to earth, business savvy and experienced."

"Reliable colleagues over many years."

"Responsive and experienced."

"Responsive, high quality, solution oriented."

"Smart, responsive, reasonable fees."

"Speedy responses, deep experience and clear thoughts. They offer explanations on my level of understanding and utility—allowing our team to make the best choices."

"The Gowling WLG team is efficient and responsive."

"The Gowling WLG team is available and responsive. Most importantly, the Gowling WLG team and our in-house team works in partnership."

"The IP team is professional and cost-and-time efficient. They are sensitive to the needs of our client."

"The recommendations we received for Gowling WLG were spot on. They provide an exceptionally high quality work product and unsurpassed client service."

"The service provided by Gowling WLG is excellent, and they have a capable team that assists with everything needed."

"The team is friendly and professional."

"Their dedication to protecting and enhancing our brands ensures that our IP is safeguarded at the highest level."

"Their patent team has experience and quality."

"Their strong reputation, their great breadth of expertise."

"They are always reliable and thorough in what they do. We trust them with most of our IP business and never have regretted doing so."

“They are available when we need, respond to our sense of urgency, and send the right people out on discoveries. They genuinely like to work together.”

"They are deeply knowledgeable and skilled yet consistently provide practical and business-focused legal advice."

"They are easy to work with."

"They are highly responsive and also make their communications very clear. They plan their work carefully and as a consequence one knows exactly what is required."

"They are responsive and offer helpful advice."

“They have the ability to work collaboratively with global and local litigation teams.”

"Very diligent and very much on the point."

"Very professional, communicate very well and very responsive. It was a difficult case with a very challenging plaintiff, but their litigation team addressed every issue and overcame every challenge which eventually led us to win twice."

"We have chosen Gowling WLG because, over the years we have worked with them, they have proven to be a reliable and successful firm in everything we have entrusted to them."

"We like that they meet with us regularly to stay on top of our IP issues and to assist us across many other jurisdictions to coordinate the work. They also provide us with cost effective advice and use digital means to enhance their services. "

"What I like about them is that they are a firm with an excellent reputation among the courts and judges."

Eric Macramalla

“Brings a practical perspective to our IP matters and helps to maximise the value of our portfolios. He ensures our brand is protected and maintains its value."

“He has special expertise in domain name disputes.”

"Very experienced and highly dependable. The quality of his work is assured.  He is very responsive and can always be trusted to provide good advice.”

Jayde Wood

“Impressed in the way of she handled files. I appreciate her availability, expertise and knowledge."

“She keeps us aware of any infringement issues, as well as managing our trade mark renewals and issues that arise effectively and efficiently."

Lisa Thorne

“Work was exemplary. Her scientific background and her IP knowledge were a perfect fit for prosecution of our biotechnology patents."

Omar Nassif

"Has been fantastic over two decades."

Paula Clancy

“For many years, I have appreciated her work."

“Responsive, responsible and provides us with very well-founded legal opinions.”

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Hefty legal teams assembled for a three-day hearing in what was the court’s first foray into SEPs since Unwired Planet v Huawei
Lobbies and interest groups are among the interveners in a major dispute over whether courts can set patent pool rates
Regulatory changes and damages risks are prompting Canadian firms and clients to opt for settlements in generic and biosimilar cases
A new claim filed by Ericsson, and a request for access to documents, were also among recent developments
The UK Supreme Court will hear another trademark case in Dairy UK v Oatly, this time centring on the registrability of regulated terminology
EIP also emerged victorious as the England and Wales Court of Appeal backed a challenge brought by Avanci and InterDigital against the electric carmaker
IP practices in Canada look to pick up talent and clients as they predict the acquisition of Bereskin & Parr will create ripples in the market
10 firms featured in more than five categories for this year’s Managing IP Americas Awards
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