Meet the Candidates
Patent Agents
Steven Garland
Dennis Haszko
Leonora Hoicka
Jean-Christophe Paquette
Trademark Agents
Leonora Hoicka
Scott Jolliffe
Joanne Nardi
Steven Garland
My name is Steven Garland, and I am seeking to be elected to the CPATA Board of Directors as the Patent Agent member.
I am a principal at Smart & Biggar, where I have worked as a practicing IP lawyer and qualified patent agent for over 30 years. Prior to becoming a lawyer, I worked as an engineer in the oil and gas industry.
I have been actively involved on issues related to the patent agency profession, and an advocate for the same, over the entire course of my career, and I believe that as a Director of CPATA, I can continue to effectively serve both the profession and the public in respect of the patent agent practice.
As a member of Smart & Biggar (which has one of the largest patent agency practices), I have been involved in the management of the firm for many years including holding positions as the Finance Partner and the Managing Partner, wherein I was actively involved in the day-to-day matters related to the patent agency practice, and also advocating on various issues with government and non-government organizations.
I was also a long-time member and Past President of IPIC and have also served on various IPIC committees. As part of my various roles with IPIC, I have been involved in, amongst other things:
- Numerous advocacy activities on behalf of the patent agent profession, including with various governments and departments such as ISED (Industry Canada) and CIPO;
- The drafting IPIC’s code of ethics/professional conduct;
- Working on the establishment of a college for the professional regulation of patent and trademark agents (that ultimately lead to the establishment of CPATA);
- Working on the establishment of a statutory privilege for client-agent communications (that ultimately led to section 16.1 of the Patent Act and section 51.13 of the Trademarks Act);
- Working on various IPIC proposals made to ISED in respect of the establishment of CPATA, including in respect of the code of professional conduct, insurance requirements, CPD requirements, etc.
In addition, I was until recently (I had to step away from IPIC in order to run for the CPATA Director position) a member of IPIC’s Professional Regulation Committee, advising the IPIC Board on various matters related to the regulation of the profession under CPATA.
I am also the past president of the AIPPI Canada Group that at the time was also actively supporting the establishment of what ultimately become CPATA, and the establishment of a statutory provision for client-agent privilege. In this latter regard, I was also for many years the Chair of AIPPI’s Client-Attorney Privilege Committee working with WIPO, and various national governments and NGOs in support of a multilateral international agreement on client-patent agent privilege. I understand that this work towards an MLA continues.
Further details of my work experience and background may be found here: https://www.smartbiggar.ca/people/bio/steven-garland
Dennis Haszko
Dear Colleagues,
I offer perspective and seek your support.
Currently being an active patent practitioner working within the Montreal office of Fasken, Canada’s largest national law firm, I have a sincere interest in assisting the CPATA Board as a Patent Agent member that is grounded in a 34-year professional career that began as a USPTO Examiner in 1990. I have been fortunate to have worked alongside many highly competent colleagues in government, corporate, and private sectors. I was first licensed to practice at CIPO in 1999 in the same manner that most Canadian Patent Agents are licensed at the USPTO –i.e., by reciprocity.
I have experienced the dot-com boom and bust in the role of IP Counsel with Nortel Networks in Ottawa where I currently reside. More recently, I have been in the bittersweet corporate position as patent counsel within Baylis Medical Company, a Canadian success story that was acquired by a much larger US biomedical manufacturer to the detriment of the in-house Canadian patent team. Working with so many start-ups during my years in private practice and as the client myself, I know first-hand the daily struggles within the patent world and the unique position of Canadian entities.
My experience with remote work predates (since 2006) the ongoing social experiment necessitated by the pandemic and facilitated by the very technology that is the subject of so much of our client’s patent work. So, I am acutely aware of the challenge of hybrid/remote work arrangements we face in our field of law.
I have successfully managed diverse teams and budgets of varying sizes including over 10 years as a small business owner running my own patent practice while raising my two sons with my wife of 32 years.
I have held Board of Directors offices of two non-profit organizations as Treasurer of the PTOS which publishes the Journal of the Patent & Trademark Office Society (JPTOS) in Virginia and as Vice President of Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Services in Maine. The latter of which was a 7-year commitment that included a contentious merger among three equal agencies from neighboring counties. I have also volunteered countless hours in educational settings promoting the patent system to future inventors.
My academic credentials include studies in Electrical & Computer Engineering at Ohio University (B.Sc.E.E., 1990) and a law degree from Franklin Pierce Law School in New Hampshire (J.D., 1998) though my patent career has been exclusively as a registered patent agent. Personally, I consider myself a legally trained engineer with a keen interest in making the world a better place. I am a dual-citizen American by serendipity of my birthplace, and since 2003 Canadian by choice.
I believe my diverse firsthand experiences in such varying roles in the patent worlds of both Canada and the US provide me with an exceptional perspective to help guide the CPATA Board from nearly every vantage point in the patent system.
CPATA has not been well received by all in the profession. However, the role of the College to help increase the stature of Patent and Trademark Agents is an absolute necessity so that Canada may excel in Intellectual Property. With the infrastructure of the College now in place, the next phase of implementation must be done with a recognition of the many moving parts of the IP system ranging from corporate users to public consumers and all the service providers in between.
With all due regard, I would appreciate your support in the upcoming CPATA Board elections and would be pleased to respond to any inquiries by email to DRH@LettersPatent.com.
Dennis R. Haszko, B.Sc.E.E., J.D.
CIPO Reg. No. P11188, CPATA Class 1
USPTO Reg. No. 39575
Leonora Hoicka
Dear Colleagues,
I am asking for your support for my re-election to the CPATA Board of Directors. I was first elected in 2022 when the permanent Board was established.
The past two years have been a learning experience for the patent and trademark agent professions and for me and my fellow elected Board members about the role of a director of an independent regulator, in which neither appointed nor elected directors represent a specific constituency or agenda. It is our role to set the policies and strategies of the regulator for management to follow. However, I believe it is an important role of an elected director to communicate to the rest of the Board and the management of CPATA, the nature and diversity of IP practise, and issues that are important to licensees, such as the challenges to statutory privilege that we worked so hard and so long to achieve, the potential damage to the rights of IP owners from unauthorized practice and the need to reform the agents qualifying examinations to provide more transparency to applicants about entrance requirements to the professions.
I am very proud of the College’s new Technical Competency Frameworks for Canadian Patent Agents and Trademark Agents that I worked on, with many other volunteers, both before and after I became a director. The frameworks provide training and exam study guides for class 3 trainees as they prepare to enter the professions, and a curriculum for the other classes of licensure in each profession to continue to develop their professional skills.
I have been fortunate in my career to practise as both a patent and a trademark agent, and as a lawyer, in private practice in Toronto and corporate practice with IBM in Markham, Ontario and New York. In addition to patent and trademark application preparation and prosecution, with IBM I also managed patent portfolios globally, led patent licensing teams and acted as IBM’s chief trademark counsel for a dozen years. I know many of you from participating on several IPIC committees over the years including Privilege and Self-Regulation and the Patent Exam Standards Committee, and from serving on the IPIC Board of Directors, including as IPIC President. The diversity of my experience gives me a unique understanding of the professions that I can continue to contribute to the Board.
In September 2023, I was appointed to the Governance Committee, one of two CPATA Board committees whose mandates are to do the underlying work on policy development and operations overview to present to the full Board for discussion and adoption. I was the first elected director appointed to this committee. I believe this shows the importance of consistency and of developing relationships of trust between the appointed and elected Board members so that we can work together, as an addition to our regulatory responsibility, to support CPATA’s important work of enhancing the reputation and increasing the size of the patent and trademark agent professions.
As a relatively recent retiree, I have the time to re-commit to these demanding roles on the Board and the Governance Committee, as well as other Board projects that arise. I believe in our professions and I want to continue to contribute to their success. I hope you will support my continued contribution.
Jean-Christophe Paquette
Dear Esteemed Colleagues,
I am writing to express my interest in the position of Patent Agent serving on the Board of Directors of the College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents (CPATA) for the term commencing on June 13, 2024.
My professional journey in intellectual property commenced in 2017 at Smart & Biggar, where I had the privilege of being mentored by accomplished attorneys and agents. Collaborating closely with clients of diverse scales, I was actively involved in numerous presentations, conferences, recruitment activities, and committees, thereby acquiring a deep understanding of the exacting standards prevailing within our industry. These experiences have equipped me with a comprehensive grasp of the challenges faced by stakeholders in the intellectual property domain.
Recently, I transitioned to the corporate sphere at BRP, Inc. in Valcourt, Quebec. Although this transition is recent, it affords me a heightened understanding of the intellectual property service needs of Canadian enterprises and the attendant business challenges. I believe that the Board of Directors would greatly benefit from the inclusion of a member with a corporate background.
On a personal note, values such as honesty and teamwork hold significant importance for me, and consequently I place great emphasis on governance and responsible management. This led me to pursue, in parallel with my professional commitments, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at HEC Montréal, further augmenting my insights into the strategic and structural challenges faced by organizations. I believe this knowledge can be valuable to the Board of Directors.
I aspire to join the Board of Directors to modernize and make the administration of our profession more effective and efficient. I aim to contribute to the establishment of a sustainable system that better meets the needs of the public and encourages businesses to protect their intellectual property, both in Canada and abroad.
My professional experiences (both in a metropolitan firm and a regional corporation), my business administration knowledge, and my leadership skills are assets I can bring to the Board of Directors to ensure it possesses the necessary knowledge and qualities to carry out its activities effectively. These qualities have also been recognized by my colleagues in Orford Musique’s Young Philanthropists Committee, where I have been involved for over two years. Moreover, I seek to contribute to the diversity of the Board of Directors in terms of age, culture and experience, notably by representing the younger generation of professionals in our field, as well as French Canadian professionals.
Thank you for your consideration.
Leonora Hoicka
Dear Colleagues,
I am asking for your support for my re-election to the CPATA Board of Directors. I was first elected in 2022 when the permanent Board was established.
The past two years have been a learning experience for the patent and trademark agent professions and for me and my fellow elected Board members about the role of a director of an independent regulator, in which neither appointed nor elected directors represent a specific constituency or agenda. It is our role to set the policies and strategies of the regulator for management to follow. However, I believe it is an important role of an elected director to communicate to the rest of the Board and the management of CPATA, the nature and diversity of IP practise, and issues that are important to licensees, such as the challenges to statutory privilege that we worked so hard and so long to achieve, the potential damage to the rights of IP owners from unauthorized practice and the need to reform the agents qualifying examinations to provide more transparency to applicants about entrance requirements to the professions.
I am very proud of the College’s new Technical Competency Frameworks for Canadian Patent Agents and Trademark Agents that I worked on, with many other volunteers, both before and after I became a director. The frameworks provide training and exam study guides for class 3 trainees as they prepare to enter the professions, and a curriculum for the other classes of licensure in each profession to continue to develop their professional skills.
I have been fortunate in my career to practise as both a patent and a trademark agent, and as a lawyer, in private practice in Toronto and corporate practice with IBM in Markham, Ontario and New York. In addition to patent and trademark application preparation and prosecution, with IBM I also managed patent portfolios globally, led patent licensing teams and acted as IBM’s chief trademark counsel for a dozen years. I know many of you from participating on several IPIC committees over the years including Privilege and Self-Regulation and the Patent Exam Standards Committee, and from serving on the IPIC Board of Directors, including as IPIC President. The diversity of my experience gives me a unique understanding of the professions that I can continue to contribute to the Board.
In September 2023, I was appointed to the Governance Committee, one of two CPATA Board committees whose mandates are to do the underlying work on policy development and operations overview to present to the full Board for discussion and adoption. I was the first elected director appointed to this committee. I believe this shows the importance of consistency and of developing relationships of trust between the appointed and elected Board members so that we can work together, as an addition to our regulatory responsibility, to support CPATA’s important work of enhancing the reputation and increasing the size of the patent and trademark agent professions.
As a relatively recent retiree, I have the time to re-commit to these demanding roles on the Board and the Governance Committee, as well as other Board projects that arise. I believe in our professions and I want to continue to contribute to their success. I hope you will support my continued contribution.
Scott Jolliffe
I am an engineer and lawyer by training and have served as a registered trademark agent for the last 40 years. I have just retired from Gowling WLG where I worked for over 40 years in the intellectual property area as an IP litigator and as the firm’s managing partner.
I have been an active participant in, and supporter of, the IP agent profession in Canada for my entire career, both within my firm and publicly. Here are a few examples of some of the things that I have helped to accomplish:
- Equity Partnership For Agents
In taking on the role of managing partner at Gowlings in 1996, one of the first initiatives that I undertook was to, despite obstacles raised by the Law Society, pave the way for patent and trademark agents to become full equity partners with lawyers with the creation of multidisciplinary firms (of which Gowlings became one of the first in Canada). - Agent Client Privilege
In the late 1990s, as part of the PTIC initiative, I began the long process of lobbying the Federal Government to adopt amendments to the Patent Act and Trademarks Act to recognize Client Agent privilege to protect the confidentiality of client communications with their agents. As an agent and a litigator, I understand the importance of preserving client privilege, and extending this privilege to the Agent profession.
At this stage in my career, having served as a leader on many different boards and organizations, and having maintained good relationships with the Federal Government at both the political and administrative levels, as a member of the CPATA board I hope that I might be able to add to the good governance of the College and help attain the aspirations of the IP agent profession in Canada.
I am able to devote the time and energy required to do what it takes to assist in maintaining a strong, respected and valued profession in Canada, as well as ensuring a modern regulatory regime for our agent profession.
Joanne Nardi
For over 25 years I have been passionate about working in the field of trademarks. My experience as a trademark agent has spanned everything from working in Big Law to running my own practice, and includes 10 years spent in-house as manager and later director of Intellectual Property for a large brewing company where I managed a large global patent and trademark portfolio. I have also worked in-house in the United States and served on the Board of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada from 2017-2019.
I have been fortunate to have had such a breadth and depth of experience, and this experience will allow me to continue serving the trademark community by bringing a unique perspective to the CPATA Board. I believe that the best way to protect the public interest is to encourage a profession that is broadly based and encompasses many perspectives and skill sets.
My goal is this: to make the profession the best it can be for all licensees and for the public. I plan to accomplish this by advocating for strong, practical educational requirements and opportunities for licensees and continuing the work to develop a best-in-class organization to protect the public interest. I firmly believe that these two objectives are not mutually exclusive and having one will serve the other, and I think I am uniquely placed to help guide the College in that direction.
Steven Garland
My name is Steven Garland, and I am seeking to be elected to the CPATA Board of Directors as the Patent Agent member.
I am a principal at Smart & Biggar, where I have worked as a practicing IP lawyer and qualified patent agent for over 30 years. Prior to becoming a lawyer, I worked as an engineer in the oil and gas industry.
I have been actively involved on issues related to the patent agency profession, and an advocate for the same, over the entire course of my career, and I believe that as a Director of CPATA, I can continue to effectively serve both the profession and the public in respect of the patent agent practice.
As a member of Smart & Biggar (which has one of the largest patent agency practices), I have been involved in the management of the firm for many years including holding positions as the Finance Partner and the Managing Partner, wherein I was actively involved in the day-to-day matters related to the patent agency practice, and also advocating on various issues with government and non-government organizations.
I was also a long-time member and Past President of IPIC and have also served on various IPIC committees. As part of my various roles with IPIC, I have been involved in, amongst other things:
- Numerous advocacy activities on behalf of the patent agent profession, including with various governments and departments such as ISED (Industry Canada) and CIPO;
- The drafting IPIC’s code of ethics/professional conduct;
- Working on the establishment of a college for the professional regulation of patent and trademark agents (that ultimately lead to the establishment of CPATA);
- Working on the establishment of a statutory privilege for client-agent communications (that ultimately led to section 16.1 of the Patent Act and section 51.13 of the Trademarks Act);
- Working on various IPIC proposals made to ISED in respect of the establishment of CPATA, including in respect of the code of professional conduct, insurance requirements, CPD requirements, etc.
In addition, I was until recently (I had to step away from IPIC in order to run for the CPATA Director position) a member of IPIC’s Professional Regulation Committee, advising the IPIC Board on various matters related to the regulation of the profession under CPATA.
I am also the past president of the AIPPI Canada Group that at the time was also actively supporting the establishment of what ultimately become CPATA, and the establishment of a statutory provision for client-agent privilege. In this latter regard, I was also for many years the Chair of AIPPI’s Client-Attorney Privilege Committee working with WIPO, and various national governments and NGOs in support of a multilateral international agreement on client-patent agent privilege. I understand that this work towards an MLA continues.
Further details of my work experience and background may be found here: https://www.smartbiggar.ca/people/bio/steven-garland
Dennis Haszko
Dear Colleagues,
I offer perspective and seek your support.
Currently being an active patent practitioner working within the Montreal office of Fasken, Canada’s largest national law firm, I have a sincere interest in assisting the CPATA Board as a Patent Agent member that is grounded in a 34-year professional career that began as a USPTO Examiner in 1990. I have been fortunate to have worked alongside many highly competent colleagues in government, corporate, and private sectors. I was first licensed to practice at CIPO in 1999 in the same manner that most Canadian Patent Agents are licensed at the USPTO –i.e., by reciprocity.
I have experienced the dot-com boom and bust in the role of IP Counsel with Nortel Networks in Ottawa where I currently reside. More recently, I have been in the bittersweet corporate position as patent counsel within Baylis Medical Company, a Canadian success story that was acquired by a much larger US biomedical manufacturer to the detriment of the in-house Canadian patent team. Working with so many start-ups during my years in private practice and as the client myself, I know first-hand the daily struggles within the patent world and the unique position of Canadian entities.
My experience with remote work predates (since 2006) the ongoing social experiment necessitated by the pandemic and facilitated by the very technology that is the subject of so much of our client’s patent work. So, I am acutely aware of the challenge of hybrid/remote work arrangements we face in our field of law.
I have successfully managed diverse teams and budgets of varying sizes including over 10 years as a small business owner running my own patent practice while raising my two sons with my wife of 32 years.
I have held Board of Directors offices of two non-profit organizations as Treasurer of the PTOS which publishes the Journal of the Patent & Trademark Office Society (JPTOS) in Virginia and as Vice President of Sexual Assault Prevention & Response Services in Maine. The latter of which was a 7-year commitment that included a contentious merger among three equal agencies from neighboring counties. I have also volunteered countless hours in educational settings promoting the patent system to future inventors.
My academic credentials include studies in Electrical & Computer Engineering at Ohio University (B.Sc.E.E., 1990) and a law degree from Franklin Pierce Law School in New Hampshire (J.D., 1998) though my patent career has been exclusively as a registered patent agent. Personally, I consider myself a legally trained engineer with a keen interest in making the world a better place. I am a dual-citizen American by serendipity of my birthplace, and since 2003 Canadian by choice.
I believe my diverse firsthand experiences in such varying roles in the patent worlds of both Canada and the US provide me with an exceptional perspective to help guide the CPATA Board from nearly every vantage point in the patent system.
CPATA has not been well received by all in the profession. However, the role of the College to help increase the stature of Patent and Trademark Agents is an absolute necessity so that Canada may excel in Intellectual Property. With the infrastructure of the College now in place, the next phase of implementation must be done with a recognition of the many moving parts of the IP system ranging from corporate users to public consumers and all the service providers in between.
With all due regard, I would appreciate your support in the upcoming CPATA Board elections and would be pleased to respond to any inquiries by email to DRH@LettersPatent.com.
Dennis R. Haszko, B.Sc.E.E., J.D.
CIPO Reg. No. P11188, CPATA Class 1
USPTO Reg. No. 39575
Leonora Hoicka
Dear Colleagues,
I am asking for your support for my re-election to the CPATA Board of Directors. I was first elected in 2022 when the permanent Board was established.
The past two years have been a learning experience for the patent and trademark agent professions and for me and my fellow elected Board members about the role of a director of an independent regulator, in which neither appointed nor elected directors represent a specific constituency or agenda. It is our role to set the policies and strategies of the regulator for management to follow. However, I believe it is an important role of an elected director to communicate to the rest of the Board and the management of CPATA, the nature and diversity of IP practise, and issues that are important to licensees, such as the challenges to statutory privilege that we worked so hard and so long to achieve, the potential damage to the rights of IP owners from unauthorized practice and the need to reform the agents qualifying examinations to provide more transparency to applicants about entrance requirements to the professions.
I am very proud of the College’s new Technical Competency Frameworks for Canadian Patent Agents and Trademark Agents that I worked on, with many other volunteers, both before and after I became a director. The frameworks provide training and exam study guides for class 3 trainees as they prepare to enter the professions, and a curriculum for the other classes of licensure in each profession to continue to develop their professional skills.
I have been fortunate in my career to practise as both a patent and a trademark agent, and as a lawyer, in private practice in Toronto and corporate practice with IBM in Markham, Ontario and New York. In addition to patent and trademark application preparation and prosecution, with IBM I also managed patent portfolios globally, led patent licensing teams and acted as IBM’s chief trademark counsel for a dozen years. I know many of you from participating on several IPIC committees over the years including Privilege and Self-Regulation and the Patent Exam Standards Committee, and from serving on the IPIC Board of Directors, including as IPIC President. The diversity of my experience gives me a unique understanding of the professions that I can continue to contribute to the Board.
In September 2023, I was appointed to the Governance Committee, one of two CPATA Board committees whose mandates are to do the underlying work on policy development and operations overview to present to the full Board for discussion and adoption. I was the first elected director appointed to this committee. I believe this shows the importance of consistency and of developing relationships of trust between the appointed and elected Board members so that we can work together, as an addition to our regulatory responsibility, to support CPATA’s important work of enhancing the reputation and increasing the size of the patent and trademark agent professions.
As a relatively recent retiree, I have the time to re-commit to these demanding roles on the Board and the Governance Committee, as well as other Board projects that arise. I believe in our professions and I want to continue to contribute to their success. I hope you will support my continued contribution.
Jean-Christophe Paquette
Dear Esteemed Colleagues,
I am writing to express my interest in the position of Patent Agent serving on the Board of Directors of the College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents (CPATA) for the term commencing on June 13, 2024.
My professional journey in intellectual property commenced in 2017 at Smart & Biggar, where I had the privilege of being mentored by accomplished attorneys and agents. Collaborating closely with clients of diverse scales, I was actively involved in numerous presentations, conferences, recruitment activities, and committees, thereby acquiring a deep understanding of the exacting standards prevailing within our industry. These experiences have equipped me with a comprehensive grasp of the challenges faced by stakeholders in the intellectual property domain.
Recently, I transitioned to the corporate sphere at BRP, Inc. in Valcourt, Quebec. Although this transition is recent, it affords me a heightened understanding of the intellectual property service needs of Canadian enterprises and the attendant business challenges. I believe that the Board of Directors would greatly benefit from the inclusion of a member with a corporate background.
On a personal note, values such as honesty and teamwork hold significant importance for me, and consequently I place great emphasis on governance and responsible management. This led me to pursue, in parallel with my professional commitments, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at HEC Montréal, further augmenting my insights into the strategic and structural challenges faced by organizations. I believe this knowledge can be valuable to the Board of Directors.
I aspire to join the Board of Directors to modernize and make the administration of our profession more effective and efficient. I aim to contribute to the establishment of a sustainable system that better meets the needs of the public and encourages businesses to protect their intellectual property, both in Canada and abroad.
My professional experiences (both in a metropolitan firm and a regional corporation), my business administration knowledge, and my leadership skills are assets I can bring to the Board of Directors to ensure it possesses the necessary knowledge and qualities to carry out its activities effectively. These qualities have also been recognized by my colleagues in Orford Musique’s Young Philanthropists Committee, where I have been involved for over two years. Moreover, I seek to contribute to the diversity of the Board of Directors in terms of age, culture and experience, notably by representing the younger generation of professionals in our field, as well as French Canadian professionals.
Thank you for your consideration.
Leonora Hoicka
Dear Colleagues,
I am asking for your support for my re-election to the CPATA Board of Directors. I was first elected in 2022 when the permanent Board was established.
The past two years have been a learning experience for the patent and trademark agent professions and for me and my fellow elected Board members about the role of a director of an independent regulator, in which neither appointed nor elected directors represent a specific constituency or agenda. It is our role to set the policies and strategies of the regulator for management to follow. However, I believe it is an important role of an elected director to communicate to the rest of the Board and the management of CPATA, the nature and diversity of IP practise, and issues that are important to licensees, such as the challenges to statutory privilege that we worked so hard and so long to achieve, the potential damage to the rights of IP owners from unauthorized practice and the need to reform the agents qualifying examinations to provide more transparency to applicants about entrance requirements to the professions.
I am very proud of the College’s new Technical Competency Frameworks for Canadian Patent Agents and Trademark Agents that I worked on, with many other volunteers, both before and after I became a director. The frameworks provide training and exam study guides for class 3 trainees as they prepare to enter the professions, and a curriculum for the other classes of licensure in each profession to continue to develop their professional skills.
I have been fortunate in my career to practise as both a patent and a trademark agent, and as a lawyer, in private practice in Toronto and corporate practice with IBM in Markham, Ontario and New York. In addition to patent and trademark application preparation and prosecution, with IBM I also managed patent portfolios globally, led patent licensing teams and acted as IBM’s chief trademark counsel for a dozen years. I know many of you from participating on several IPIC committees over the years including Privilege and Self-Regulation and the Patent Exam Standards Committee, and from serving on the IPIC Board of Directors, including as IPIC President. The diversity of my experience gives me a unique understanding of the professions that I can continue to contribute to the Board.
In September 2023, I was appointed to the Governance Committee, one of two CPATA Board committees whose mandates are to do the underlying work on policy development and operations overview to present to the full Board for discussion and adoption. I was the first elected director appointed to this committee. I believe this shows the importance of consistency and of developing relationships of trust between the appointed and elected Board members so that we can work together, as an addition to our regulatory responsibility, to support CPATA’s important work of enhancing the reputation and increasing the size of the patent and trademark agent professions.
As a relatively recent retiree, I have the time to re-commit to these demanding roles on the Board and the Governance Committee, as well as other Board projects that arise. I believe in our professions and I want to continue to contribute to their success. I hope you will support my continued contribution.
Scott Jolliffe
I am an engineer and lawyer by training and have served as a registered trademark agent for the last 40 years. I have just retired from Gowling WLG where I worked for over 40 years in the intellectual property area as an IP litigator and as the firm’s managing partner.
I have been an active participant in, and supporter of, the IP agent profession in Canada for my entire career, both within my firm and publicly. Here are a few examples of some of the things that I have helped to accomplish:
- Equity Partnership For Agents
In taking on the role of managing partner at Gowlings in 1996, one of the first initiatives that I undertook was to, despite obstacles raised by the Law Society, pave the way for patent and trademark agents to become full equity partners with lawyers with the creation of multidisciplinary firms (of which Gowlings became one of the first in Canada). - Agent Client Privilege
In the late 1990s, as part of the PTIC initiative, I began the long process of lobbying the Federal Government to adopt amendments to the Patent Act and Trademarks Act to recognize Client Agent privilege to protect the confidentiality of client communications with their agents. As an agent and a litigator, I understand the importance of preserving client privilege, and extending this privilege to the Agent profession.
At this stage in my career, having served as a leader on many different boards and organizations, and having maintained good relationships with the Federal Government at both the political and administrative levels, as a member of the CPATA board I hope that I might be able to add to the good governance of the College and help attain the aspirations of the IP agent profession in Canada.
I am able to devote the time and energy required to do what it takes to assist in maintaining a strong, respected and valued profession in Canada, as well as ensuring a modern regulatory regime for our agent profession.
Joanne Nardi
For over 25 years I have been passionate about working in the field of trademarks. My experience as a trademark agent has spanned everything from working in Big Law to running my own practice, and includes 10 years spent in-house as manager and later director of Intellectual Property for a large brewing company where I managed a large global patent and trademark portfolio. I have also worked in-house in the United States and served on the Board of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada from 2017-2019.
I have been fortunate to have had such a breadth and depth of experience, and this experience will allow me to continue serving the trademark community by bringing a unique perspective to the CPATA Board. I believe that the best way to protect the public interest is to encourage a profession that is broadly based and encompasses many perspectives and skill sets.
My goal is this: to make the profession the best it can be for all licensees and for the public. I plan to accomplish this by advocating for strong, practical educational requirements and opportunities for licensees and continuing the work to develop a best-in-class organization to protect the public interest. I firmly believe that these two objectives are not mutually exclusive and having one will serve the other, and I think I am uniquely placed to help guide the College in that direction.