Strategic Mapping

MBM single services strategicmapping

Plant Breeders' Rights

MBM services single plantbreeders

Plants have become increasingly valuable in today’s economy in agricultural and environmental contexts. MBM can apply for the registration of your plant breeders’ rights to obtain protection of your new plant variety. Let our professionals counsel you with respect to the intellectual property protection available for new plant technologies and assist you with the commercialization and branding of your plants.

Licensing and Intellectual Property Transactions

Technology may be central to your business, or may simply provide the infrastructure necessary to operate, but when your business interests include intellectual property assets, you need to protect and maximize that value.

We support clients who create, acquire, use, commercially exploit and leverage technology and associated intellectual property, and help them advance their business interests and mitigate risks.

MBM has expertise with IP transactions, including:

Confidentiality agreements
Commercial contracts involving intellectual property
e-commerce and internet agreements
Licensing, including technology and trade-marks
Other technology transfer agreements
Settlement and stand-still agreements
Research, clinical trials, joint development and collaborative arrangements
Merchandising, advertising and marketing agreements
Opinions and due diligence on existing and proposed transactions

Copyright

MBM services single img copyrigth

Today copyright can be seen in almost every facet of both public and private industry sectors. Prudent legal advice at the outset allows rights-holders to retain prized business assets while preventing unnecessary expenditure in ensuing legal disputes that may arise subsequently.

With a thorough understanding of copyright law, our professionals strategize creative ways to protect and enforce rights of rights-holders to achieve their business objectives domestically and globally. Our lawyers are proficient with assisting clients in a multitude of areas including gaining clearance of copyrighted works, preventing infringement of copyrighted works, seeking damages from infringement through settlement, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), and litigation.

Our Services

Our skilled team assists clients with the following copyright related services:

Registering copyrighted works in Canada, United States, and abroad
Copyright Portfolio Strategy and Management
Advising on the licensing of copyrighted technology and digital content and preparing related agreements
Preparation of legal documents needed for transfer
Preparation of company copyright policy regimes
Preparation of copyright related contracts
Domain-name dispute resolution
Clearing/Attaining licenses for copyrighted work
Copyright due diligence
Advice regarding Canadian Copyright Act
Enforcement of copyrighted works through settlement, ADR, and/or litigation

MBM's Regulatory Practice Group

MBM services single regulatorypractice

MBM's Regulatory Practice Group advises clients on a broad range of regulatory issues related to drugs, natural health products, medical devices/diagnostics, food and cosmetics. It is comprised of a multidisciplinary group of practitioners with past experience working at Health Canada in the application and enforcement of the Food & Drug Act and associated regulations, as well as working within major pharmaceutical companies:

Our expertise includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Classification of products under the various regulatory regimes;
Manoeuvring through the regulatory approval process including pre-submission and submission activities with regulatory authorities and appeals of submission decisions;
Patent listing under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations and eligibility for data protection/exclusivity; and
Application of the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board and formulary listing and reimbursement.

Patents

MBM services single patents

Our strength is working with our clients to develop a strategic patent portfolio that works with both their short term needs and long term business goals to create a portfolio that is a strong business asset. We offer a broad range of services with respect to Canadian, United States and worldwide patents, such as:

Strategy development for the protection of inventions that will integrate with your business goals
Drafting, filing and processing patent applications
Preliminary patentability searches
Full prior art searches and freedom to operate opinions
Portfolio management
Full range of patent prosecution service levels
Infringement and validity opinions
Regulatory and compliance guidance
Patent formality reviews and patent audits
Verification of ownership and chain of title issues
Monitoring of competing technologies
Licensing
Mediation and arbitration

Trademarks

MBM services single trademarks

A solid brand is one of the most important tools for a successful marketing of your business. Likewise, it’s imperative your trademarks are protected and vigorously enforced in order to preserve your brand reputation.

Our experienced trademarks team, comprised of litigators and trademark agents, has the wealth of knowledge and innovative skill set to maximize your trademark protection and fully enforce your trademark rights. We counsel clients on the selection, protection, and enforcement of company names, brand names, logos and taglines for Canadian and worldwide markets, including filing, prosecution, registration and licensing.

Our lawyers have successfully enforced trademark protection before all levels of Court including the Supreme Court of Canada, Federal Court of Appeal and Federal Court. We also caused the Canadian Trademarks office to amend their practices in a land mark decision.

Strategic Analysis

MBM single services strategicmapping

We strive to understand your overall business objectives and craft our legal services to compliment those.

The better we understand your business objectives, the better we can offer sound strategic analysis to achieve business success.

Our intellectual property strategy

MBM strategy_v2

Due Diligence

MBM single services duedilligence

Our firm has expertise in leveraging intellectual property value via:

Assessment of IP portfolios (scope/validity/enforceability) for acquisition, divestment or financing
Freedom to operate opinions
Infringement and validity opinions
Assessment of ownership/transferability
Intellectual property audits
Preparation of portfolios to undergo due diligence by a 3rd party
Licensing and manufacturing agreements
Technology transfer and confidentiality agreements
Review of Employment and consulting agreements for IP issues

Litigation & Dispute Resolution

MBM services single litigation

Negotiation before litigation.

One of many important considerations that should be given to litigation is that it should be regarded as a tool of last resort. We will help you examine the possible alternatives to resolve a dispute and possibly avoid litigation, including licensing, mediation, negotiation, arbitration, domain name dispute resolution through ICANN, and opposition or cancellation proceedings, to name just a few.

Task based billing for better value

When litigation is the only alternative, we will work with you to develop a cost effective strategy for the best possible outcome in all areas of intellectual property. Our worldwide network of experienced counsel is always available to assist when matters cross international borders. The litigation department works closely with the members of our other departments to ensure that the most effective analysis of the legal and technological issues occurs in tandem with the management of your overall intellectual property portfolio.

Strategy considerations

Identify which key interests are at stake
Consider the impact that litigation is going to have on your organization
Is your goal to deter? Or to set a precedent?
Consider what is required to prove the claim
How much will litigation cost both in terms of time and dollars? Can you afford it? Can you afford not to do it?

Factors that increase costs

Micromanagement
Emotional involvement (position vs. interests at stake)
Litigator mentality – refusal to negotiate with the other side
Inadequate access to information
Poor communication

Trade-Secret Programs

MBM single services tradesecret

Preserve your rights prior to patenting.

A trade-secret can be as complex as a proprietary process and a chemical reaction that maximizes yields, or it can be as straightforward as the data contained in a client list. In particular, trade secrecy can be used to preserve rights prior to patenting, to protect information that cannot be patented, and to act as an alternative to patent protection when enforcement of a patent would be impracticable or unnecessary.

The law will protect a very broad range of trade-secrets from misappropriation. However, the owner of a secret must take active steps to protect its secrecy. Once secrecy is lost through the conscious actions of its owner, the courts offer no recourse. We will help you take active steps to limit the possibility of this occurring.

Trade-secret protection is distinct from other forms of intellectual property protection, and can be of immense value. We will work with you to identify and define your trade-secrets. We will help you to implement a structured program for protection, addressing such things as archiving of secrets, laboratory visits by outsiders, computer passwords and employment contracts. We offer guidance regarding trade-secret protection versus patent protection. The choice of one over the other can affect rights and remedies, as well as the cost involved in the protection of your intellectual property.

Industrial Design

MBM services single industrialdesign

PROTECT YOUR REGISTERED DESIGN.

Design is increasingly used by companies to set their products apart from the competition and to build a brand for themselves in the process.

The registration of an industrial design provides you with the ability to prevent others from making, importing, selling, renting, or offering for sale or rent, an article having a design that is the same as or not differing substantially from your registered design.

Our professionals with cross training in the legal, patent and trademark departments have extensive experience with the filing and prosecution of industrial designs. We ensure you are well protected to do your business, whether we are drafting and register your industrial design application, or preparing a freedom to practice opinion for the commercialization of your product.

We can do an in-depth technical and cultural analysis of your design along with thorough research of similar products, to ensure you are well protected when we draft and register your design.

Clean & Sustainable Technologies

MBM services single cleantech

Over the past several years, it has been a privilege to provide our services to a number of clients focused on clean and sustainable technologies (‘cleantech’).

The cleantech arena utilizes ideas that span a broad range of scientific disciplines such as microbiology, chemistry, physics, engineering, software etc. Our firm’s collaborative work approach and the world class expertise of our professionals in these scientific disciplines allow us to cater to the unique needs of this arena.

We have assisted our clients with drafting and global prosecution of IP rights, management of IP assets, valuation and enforcement of IP rights, and development of business strategies that optimally leverage all forms of intellectual assets (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, trade secrets and copyrights) for enhanced value extraction.

Our Cleantech practice group understands the global reach of clean technologies. In this regard, MBM can provide valuable assistance and insights into gaining meaningful protection in many jurisdictions, including developing world countries.

Our Services

Your innovations are of upmost importance to us. Protecting them is the first step to ensuring your business' success. We want to understand what your business objectives are so that we can work with you to develop an intellectual property strategy that is right for you.

Our firm practices exclusively in the area of Intellectual Property. It is all we do and we do it well! Our services include: