Gowlings Professionals [A. Kelly Gill, Partner] -
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Published on: 4/1/2005
Last Visited: 4/1/2005
A. Kelly Gill, Partner
Mr. Gill is Department Head of the Intellectual Property Group in Toronto and National Leader of the firm's IP Litigation National Practice Group.Mr. Gill specializes in trade mark, copyright, patent and misleading advertising litigation, including related rights and opinion work.
Mr. Gill's practice has brought him before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court Trial Division, the Ontario Court of Appeal, High Court and Divisional Court.He has appeared as counsel on numerous reported intellectual property decisions.For example:
CCH Ltd. et al. v. The Law Society of Upper Canada, where Mr. Gill appeared as counsel for the Law Society at trial, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.This leading copyright case was the first time the Supreme Court dealt with such fundamental copyright issues as the standard of originality and fair dealing.The 2004 Judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada is recognized as one of the most important copyright decisions in Canadian history.
Consorzio Del Prosciutto Di Parma v. Maple Leaf Meats Inc., where Mr. Gill appeared as counsel for the successful defendant at trial and the Court of Appeal.The case dealt with the validity of the Defendant's PARMA trade mark registered for use in association with various meat products, in the face of an allegation of geographical misdescriptiveness by a consortium of ham producers from Parma, Italy.
Johnson & Johnson Inc. v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Inc., where Mr. Gill successfully defended an allegation of misleading advertising in the context of an OTC comparative claim.
Mr. Gill has written extensively in his area of expertise and is an author of The Canadian Law of Trade-Marks and Unfair Competition, 4th edition.Considered by many to be the leading text on trade mark law in Canada, this 4th edition published in 2002 is now a looseleaf service that is updated twice yearly.The new text was recently cited with approval by the Federal Court of Appeal in Kirkbi AG v. Ritvik Holdings Inc. (the "LEGO case").
Mr. Gill is also an author of Trial by Survey: Survey Evidence and the Law, numerous chapters in different specialized texts, and articles on different facets of IP.He has sat on the editorial boards of the Canadian Intellectual Property Review and Patent World (London), and regularly lectures at such law schools as the University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto and various conferences sponsored by such entities as ALI-ABA and the CBA.
Selected as one of Lexpert's Top 40 Under 40 in November/December 2004, Mr. Gill is a member of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada, the Canadian Bar Association, the Institute of Trademark Agents, the International Trademark Association and the American Intellectual Property Law Association.