Heer Law

Kimberley Baillie

Kimberley Baillie is a trademark agent at Heer Law with more than 20 years of experience in Canadian trademark prosecution and portfolio management.She advises Canadian and international clients on trademark clearance, registrability, filing strategies, prosecution and the maintenance of trademark rights. Kimberley conducts clearance searches, provides registrability opinions and prepares responses to objections raised by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, including office actions and provisional refusals. She also advises on evidence of use, acquired distinctiveness and strategies for overcoming objections to registration.Kimberley works with start-ups, small and medium-sized businesses and large corporations. Her experience in both private practice and at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office gives her a detailed understanding of examination policy, procedure and the practical considerations affecting Canadian trademark applications.She is internationally recognized for her expertise in the Nice Classification of goods and services. Since 2016, Kimberley has served as the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada’s representative to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Nice Union Committee of Experts. She is ranked in the Bronze Tier for trademark prosecution by World Trademark Review 1000.

Stephanie Chong

Stephanie Chong is a partner at Heer Law, an intellectual property lawyer and a registered trademark agent. Her practice focuses on the strategic acquisition, management, commercialization and enforcement of trademarks and other intellectual property rights.Stephanie advises clients ranging from emerging and mid-sized businesses to large multinational companies. She assists clients with trademark clearance and filing strategies, prosecution, portfolio management, licensing, brand expansion and enforcement. She also represents clients in contested proceedings before the Trademarks Opposition Board and in intellectual property disputes before the Federal Court and Ontario courts.Her practice combines trademark-law expertise with commercially focused brand strategy. Stephanie advises businesses on developing and protecting brand portfolios in Canada and internationally, resolving registrability and infringement concerns, responding to oppositions and enforcement threats, and using intellectual property rights to support broader commercial objectives.Stephanie has also served as Interim Counsel, Patents and Trademarks, for one of Canada’s largest pharmaceutical companies. This in-house experience informs her practical approach to portfolio management, legal risk, budgeting and the relationship between intellectual property strategy and business priorities.Stephanie is recognized as a WTR Global Leader and is ranked in the Gold Tier for trademark prosecution and strategy by World Trademark Review 1000. She is also recognized for intellectual property law by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and The Best Lawyers in Canada.

Georgina Danzig

Georgina Danzig is a partner at Heer Law and leads the firm’s intellectual property litigation and anti-counterfeiting enforcement practice.She is an experienced litigator who appears before the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Her practice focuses on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, including disputes involving trademark infringement, passing off, copyright infringement, industrial design infringement, counterfeiting, confidential information, trade secrets and domain names.Georgina is particularly recognized for her work in anti-counterfeiting and brand protection. She develops civil, border-enforcement and, where appropriate, criminal-enforcement strategies for rights holders affected by piracy, infringement and counterfeit trade. She assists clients with Canada’s intellectual property border-enforcement regime, including recording rights with the Canada Border Services Agency and responding to detained shipments.She has extensive experience seeking and implementing extraordinary remedies, including Anton Piller orders, Mareva injunctions, Norwich orders, preservation orders and other forms of interlocutory and injunctive relief. Georgina is also regularly engaged as an independent supervising solicitor in connection with the execution of Anton Piller orders in intellectual property and commercial disputes.Her work extends beyond civil litigation. She has assisted rights holders in working with police, customs officials, investigators and other professionals in matters involving counterfeit goods, including criminal investigations and the execution of search warrants. She also advises on pre-litigation strategy, negotiated settlements and mediation.Georgina is recognized as a WTR Global Leader. World Trademark Review 1000 ranks her in the Gold Tier for anti-counterfeiting and the Silver Tier for trademark enforcement and litigation. She is also recognized as an Intellectual Property Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation, a Trade Mark Star by IP STARS and a leading intellectual property lawyer by The Best Lawyers in Canada.

Darragh Dzisiak

Darragh Dzisiak is an intellectual property lawyer at Heer Law. Her practice includes intellectual property litigation and pre-litigation disputes, patent matters and broader intellectual property advice.Darragh assists clients and senior counsel with the assessment and enforcement of intellectual property rights, the development of dispute strategies, legal research, written advocacy and the preparation of litigation and pre-litigation materials. Her work encompasses issues involving patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets and other commercially valuable intellectual property.Her combined background in science, law and business enables her to consider intellectual property matters from technical, legal and commercial perspectives. She has a particular interest in the role intellectual property plays in business development, cross-border transactions and the commercialization of innovation.

Christopher Heer

Christopher Heer is the founder of Heer Law and an intellectual property lawyer, Canadian and U.S. patent agent, and Canadian trademark agent. He is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist in Intellectual Property Law (Patent).Christopher practises across intellectual property law, with particular emphasis on patent drafting and prosecution, intellectual property litigation, and matters involving software and other computer-related technologies. His computer-engineering background enables him to work directly with inventors, engineers and business leaders on technically complex innovations, including artificial intelligence, software, computer hardware, electronics, fintech and blockchain technologies.He has prepared and prosecuted patent applications covering computer-related, electrical, mechanical, chemical and biotechnological inventions. In addition to obtaining Canadian and U.S. patent rights, Christopher coordinates international patent portfolios through foreign counsel in Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and other jurisdictions. He also advises on patentability, freedom to operate, infringement and validity, intellectual property due diligence, licensing and commercialization.Christopher acts for both plaintiffs and defendants in patent disputes. His litigation experience includes technologies such as wireless communications, robotics, oil and gas equipment, temporary road systems, pharmaceuticals, computer software and semiconductors. In a multimillion-dollar patent action concerning oil and gas technology, admissions he obtained during cross-examination contributed to summary judgment dismissing the claim against his clients.His broader practice includes trademark and copyright prosecution and enforcement, trade secret disputes, software-related contractual matters, industrial design protection, trademark oppositions and expungement proceedings, and the negotiated resolution of intellectual property disputes.Christopher is recognized by IAM Patent 1000 for patent prosecution, by IP STARS as a Patent Star, by World Trademark Review 1000 for trademark enforcement and litigation, and by IAM Strategy 300 as a leading intellectual property strategist.

Rareș Minecan

Rareș Minecan is an intellectual property lawyer at Heer Law. His practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and pre-litigation disputes, with additional experience in patent-related matters.Rareș assists clients with disputes involving patents, trademarks, copyright, confidential information and other intellectual property rights. His work includes legal research, preparing demand and response correspondence, developing pre-litigation strategies, supporting court proceedings and advising on the practical enforcement of intellectual property rights.He also assists with patent prosecution, patentability and prior-art searching, trademark and copyright matters, online content enforcement, and agreements concerning the ownership and commercialization of intellectual property. Rareș has written on copyright protection, online infringement, intellectual property litigation and the legal issues arising from generative artificial intelligence.His environmental-engineering background enables him to understand technical subject matter and work with inventors and businesses operating in engineering, environmental and other technology-based fields. Heer Law identifies his principal areas of practice as intellectual property litigation, pre-litigation disputes and patents.

Tapas Pain

Valeen Sodhi

Valeen Sodhi is a summer student at Heer Law. She supports the firm’s lawyers and agents on intellectual property research, client matters and legal writing.Valeen has a background in computer science and a particular interest in the interaction between intellectual property, emerging technologies and business strategy. Her areas of interest include artificial intelligence, privacy, data governance and the legal risks created by rapidly developing technologies.Her previous client-facing experience in graphic design and commercial printing provides her with practical insight into branding, design and the operational considerations faced by businesses. She is interested in helping clients understand how intellectual property can support growth while addressing legal and commercial risks.

Tamsin Thomas

Tamsin Thomas is an intellectual property lawyer, registered patent agent and registered trademark agent at Heer Law.Her practice includes patents, trademarks, industrial designs, intellectual property strategy and domestic and international portfolio management. She assists clients with Canadian patent, trademark and industrial design prosecution, as well as trademark opposition and cancellation proceedings.Tamsin has particular technical experience in life sciences, chemistry and biotechnology. Her scientific background enables her to advise on inventions involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cancer treatments, topical preparations, laboratory equipment and related biological and chemical technologies. She also works with innovations in mechanical devices, information technology, telecommunications and computer communication systems.Tamsin manages Canadian intellectual property portfolios and coordinates with foreign lawyers and agents to obtain and maintain patent, trademark and industrial design rights internationally. She has filed hundreds of Canadian trademark and industrial design applications and Patent Cooperation Treaty national-phase entries for clients and foreign associates based in the United States and Europe.