Joanna Ma

About Joanna

Joanna Ma is an intellectual property (IP) strategist and patent lawyer at Bereskin & Parr LLP. She 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.

Beyond her legal practice, Joanna enjoys reading about the latest technology trends, as well as gardening and baking.