Michelle provides strategic management of trademark portfolios of large international and domestic clients, including working closely with in-house counsel to coordinate a cost-effective prosecution, enforcement and opposition strategy. In addition, Michelle manages the international foreign trademark portfolios of many large domestic companies.

Michelle has many years of experience providing clearance opinions and managing trademark prosecution across various industries. She acts as counsel in numerous trademark opposition matters on behalf of clients, including preparing evidence and conducting cross-examinations and oral hearings; providing strategic enforcement advice on trademark and patent portfolios, including developing cease and desist strategies and negotiating desirable settlements with third parties; as well as acting for plaintiffs and defendants in various patent, trademark and copyright disputes in a wide range of areas (for example, consumer products, fabrics, fashion designs, medicated animal feeds, appearance of pharmaceutical tablets, food-related process patents and the estate rights of a famous artist).

In addition, Michelle provides strategic advice to clients pertaining to a wide variety of domain name issues, as well as initiating and responding to domain name dispute proceedings, including ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP), the CIRA Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (CDRP) and the Rapid Evaluation Service (RES).

Michelle works closely with in-house counsel to develop best practices and training materials to assist her clients’ businesses in the intellectual property area. She is also involved in reviewing marketing and advertising materials to advise on compliance with trademark laws and various regulatory regimes.

Michelle is a registered Canadian patent and trademark agent.