Patrick Stewart Smith
Patrick Smith is the leader of the Calgary office’s Intellectual Property Group, and is a member of Gowling WLG's Patents and Life Sciences groups. Patrick is also a registered patent agent in Canada, and has won multiple awards and distinctions. Most recently, he has been named the 2018 IP Lawyer of the Year by The Best Lawyers in Canada 2018 and was awarded the 2015 Canadian Contentious Impact Case of the Year by LMG Life Sciences for his representation of Idenix Pharmaceuticals in Gilead Pharmaceuticals et al v. Idenix Pharmaceuticals et al.
Also ranked in Managing IP’s IP Patent Stars 2017 and IAM Patent 1000 2017, he has been described as “aggressive, experienced and technically savvy,” and “one of the busiest litigators around, appearing as lead counsel in a wide range of conflicts.”
Patrick provides strategic patent, trademark, regulatory and life-cycle advice to clients in the oil and gas, pharmaceutical, agriculture, biotech and chemical industries.
Patrick has appeared as counsel in more than 100 reported decisions relating to patents, trademarks and copyright in the Ontario court, Federal Court and Supreme Court of Canada. His two recent appearances in the Supreme Court of Canada were Teva v. Pfizer (2012) and AstraZeneca v. Canada (2006).
He has successfully represented clients such as Baker Petrolite, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, Janssen, Schering-Plough, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dow AgroSciences, Allergan, Bayer, Purdue Pharmaceuticals and Amgen in all levels of court on litigation matters.
Patrick is a regular writer and speaker on key IP issues impacting companies operating in Canada. He is a former adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa and now mentors students, associates and junior partners at the firm.