On June 30, 2020, North Inc., a pioneer in human computer interfaces and smart glasses, announced that it had been acquired by Google. Financial terms were not disclosed.

North Inc. (formerly Thalmic Labs), based in Kitchener-Waterloo, originally focussed on new forms of interaction with Myo, a gesture based input device that directly coupled neuro-muscular impulses into signals computers could understand. The company then shifted focus to Focals, smart glasses with direct retinal projection and prescription compatibility.

Gowling WLG advised North Inc. in this transaction with a team led by Todd Bissett and Ian Palm, and that included Sean Gomes, Duncan Snyder and Andrew Griffin (corporate/M&A), Paul Carenza and Mariam Al-Shikarchy (tax), Neena Gupta and Tushar Anandasagar (employment), and Ian Macdonald (Investment Canada/competition), assisted by student-at-law Marco Wai and many others.