Our Financial Services Intellectual Property Practice Group concentrates on intellectual property strategies relevant to financial services companies—this in recognition of the growing interest among financial services companies of the importance of IP, particularly of patents, in the management and operations of their businesses.
The group has advised various companies in the financial services industry on strategies for managing IP, including in preparing and filing patent applications directed to financial service innovations, and in assessing infringement risks related to third-party patents.
Our cross-border practice makes us unique among Canadian firms in being able to render opinions concerning U.S. patents and their impact on U.S. operations, or their extra-territorial impact on Canadian operations. The group offers the full range of patent services and has been particularly active in this area; in 2005, we conducted an extensive review of financial service patent trends, and published a survey of our results in Patent Intelligence Report: Financial Services Industry. The group was also a sponsor of Patenting Business Methods in the Financial Services Industry in New York City in July 2006, where it chaired the panel on “Drafting Patents to Address and Optimize Their Extraterritorial Effect.”
Our depth of experience in the trademark area also allows us to advise financial services companies on this more traditional area of interest.