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Canada’s Intellectual Property Firm

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      Smart & Biggar is Canada’s largest and highest ranked intellectual property firm. Our reputation and strength is a measure of the quality of our people, and we are proud to have the broadest and deepest bench for IP in Canada. With over 180 lawyers, patent agents and trademark agents, we offer legal expertise and technological knowledge across a wide range of industries and scientific and engineering disciplines, with leaders in every field.

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      Today’s fast-paced innovation economy demands a higher level of expertise and attention to detail when it comes to IP. Our highly skilled team of lawyers, patent agents and trademark agents advise clients on a wide variety of strategic business, brand and technology matters leveraging their deep expertise in intellectual property to help them succeed with IP.

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      Across all industries, intellectual property is at the heart of innovation and is key to accelerating business value and growth. Developing a clear IP strategy and knowing how to tap and leverage IP to align with business goals can unlock competitive advantages and make the difference between industry leaders and followers.

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      At the forefront of IP in Canada, and actively involved as leaders in industry committees and associations, we stay up-to-date and proactively report on the latest developments in intellectual property law in Canada and around the world. Breaking IP news, changes in the law, important new decisions, and information on key IP issues are provided here through our IP publications and resources.

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      Many of the world's most commercially important innovators and most prominent brands trust Smart & Biggar to protect and enforce their IP and to provide them with strategic IP counsel. We have developed a reputation as a firm of talented lawyers and patent and trademark agents with integrity, business savvy and tremendous acumen. That’s why we look for the brightest people with combined talent and strengths in law, business, science and technology. 

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      Smart & Biggar is widely recognized as Canada’s leading firm for intellectual property, and with over 180 lawyers, patent agents and trademark agents in six offices, we are also Canada’s largest firm focused purely on IP and related specialty areas.
       

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Joanna Ma

Principal
  • Smart & Biggar LP
Language(s): English
  • T:519.783.3218
  • jma@smartbiggar.ca
  • Waterloo Region
  • Vancouver

Joanna offers her clients strategic advice on developing and growing IP portfolios that are aligned with their business opportunities and goals. Joanna also assists her clients with commercializing and monetizing these IP rights, and with developing a balanced approach to the enforcement of their IP rights.

Joanna has an electrical engineering background and specializes in patenting software-driven technologies and associated systems (including artificial intelligence, audio systems, autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, medical devices and imaging systems, neural networks, telecommunication systems, and robotics). She is experienced in drafting and prosecuting patent applications in these technologies, and closely follows the various Patent Offices’ guidance and trends on patenting software-driven innovations to increase prosecution efficiency.

Joanna has also written on various aspects of patenting software-driven technologies, including co-authoring Canada’s Chapter in Intellectual Property in Electronics and Software: A Global Guide to Rights and Their Applications, Second Edition.

Another significant part of Joanna’s practice is in obtaining design protection for her clients' products in a meaningful way for their business.

Joanna supports the growth of Canada’s technology ecosystem. She is an IP Strategy advisor at several innovation hubs across Ontario and is a frequent speaker on this subject. Joanna is also a co-author of a chapter entitled “Patent and Other IP Protection for Engineering and Technology Startups” in Startup Law 101: A Practical Guide.

Qualifications

  • Ontario Bar, 2012
  • US Registered Patent Agent, 2014
  • Registered Patent Agent, 2013
  • University of British Columbia, J.D., 2011
  • University of Waterloo, B.A.Sc. Hons. (Electrical Engineering), 2008

Related Services

  • Industrial Designs
    • IP Strategic Advisory
      • Patents
        • Marketing & Advertising

          Related Industries

          • Artificial Intelligence
            • Electronics & Computer Technology
              • Medical Devices

                Rankings & Recognition

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                  Intellectual Property Law

                  2025
                  Best Lawyers in Canada
                • Lexpert

                  Intellectual Property

                  2023-2025
                  The Canadian Legal LEXPERT® Directory
                • MIP

                  Rising Stars

                  2020-2024
                  Managing IP Rising Stars
                • WIPR

                  Leaders

                  2023-2024
                  World IP Review Leaders

                Related Publications & Articles

                • Elevate IP – New Canadian Funding Program to Elevate your IP Game

                  July 14, 2023
                  Innovative Canadian companies can benefit from funding available for IP strategy and filingsInnovative Canadian companies should take not...
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                • Intellectual Property Strategy for Protecting Software: Supplementing Utility Patent Protection with Industrial Designs

                  May 05, 2023
                  An often-overlooked form of intellectual property (IP) protection for software applications is industrial design protection for a graphical us...
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                • Intellectual Property (IP) Strategies for Cybersecurity Innovations

                  March 11, 2022
                  Over the past decade, technological advances have drastically evolved our daily engagement with technology. The COVID-19 pandemic also jump-st...
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                • Developing Your Intellectual Property Strategy

                  February 05, 2019
                  Develop a comprehensive IP strategy to secure your business's competitive advantage. Learn how to prioritize protection for core assets like t...
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                • News
                • Speaking
                • Industry Involvement

                54 Smart & Biggar practitioners recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2025

                March 11, 2025

                Smart & Biggar celebrates six Rising Stars and seven Notable Practitioners in the 2024 MIP IP Stars

                October 11, 2024
                • Strategies on When to File, New Ventures BC, July 24, 2024
                • IP for British Columbia Start-Ups, KAST and Community Futures Central Kootenay, June 19, 2024
                • AC Pitch Coaching Open House - Conveying your IP strategy, Accelerator Centre, May 30, 2024
                • SR&ED and IP funding strategies for innovation with Northbridge Consultants, Communitech, April 3, 2024
                • Disrupting Tech: Innovative Women-Led Projects, She Talks Tech, January 18, 2024
                • Soft Skills Every Practitioner Should Develop, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC), December 13, 2023
                • Practical Insights for Intellectual Property (IP) Government Funding, Altitude Accelerator, December 4, 2023
                • Know Your Rights – Understanding Your Intellectual Property, North Forge, November 27, 2023
                • Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy and Funding for Kootenay Businesses, Community Futures Central Kootenay and Kootenay Association for Science and Technology (KAST), October 25, 2023
                • IP Govn’t Funding Options Elevate IP, Accelerator Centre, August 29, 2023
                • Preparing Your Company for Exit:Expert Insights for Companies of All Stages, NuBinary, April 19, 2023
                • Strategies for Optimizing Valuation For Your Company, NuBinary, March 9, 2023
                • IP & Legal Startup Bootcamp, Altitude Accelerator, June 14, 2022
                • Investor Readiness, Altitude Accelerator, June 8, 2022
                • IP Training Session for Board Members, Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, and advisors, Altitude Accelerator, June 2, 2022
                • Guarding your Intellectual Property (IP) in CleanTech, Altitude Accelerator, March 10, 2022
                • Enabling Cyber Innovation, CyberXLTR, January 26, 2022
                • Strategizing Your Intellectual Property, The Conrad School, October 18-22, 2021
                • Advisor Seminar: Critical Updates for 2020, RIC Centre, February 12, 2020
                • Legal & IP: Protect your startup, RIC Centre, May 6, 2020
                • Enabling Cybersecurity Innovation Eco-System, APMA & CloudGRC CSIC, November 27, 2019
                • Startup Bootcamp, RIC Centre, November 13, 2019
                • Identifying and Commercializing Your Intellectual Property, Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association (APMA), November 4, 2019
                • Intellectual Property – Exploring Common Misconceptions, Communitech, September 5, 2019
                • Driving Dreams: Innovation, RIC Centre, May 23, 2019
                • Eureka! From Idea to Issuance: The Patenting Process, Communitech, May 22, 2019
                • Best Practices for Growth, Funding and IP Protection for Digital Startups, International Initiatives for Creative Innovators and Entrepreneurs (IICIE), April 2, 2019
                • Management of Technological Innovation Lecture at University of Toronto Mississauga, University of Toronto Mississauga, March 20, 2019
                • IP Matters – patents, trade secrets and trademarks, Arrow Electronics, January 18, 2019
                •  

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                Bereskin & Parr joins Smart & Biggar

                Bereskin & Parr has joined Smart & Biggar, Canada's leading team for intellectual property, and now operates as Smart & Biggar.

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                Joanna Ma

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