Stephen Selznick is a partner in the Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment, and Regulatory Groups at Cassels, and a leading member of the intellectual property and entertainment bars. Stephen’s practice focuses on structuring, reorganizations and litigation. A frequent speaker on IP and entertainment matters, Stephen represents clients in knowledge-based industries, including advertising, film, television, recording, theatre, publishing, social media, AI, computer software, telecommunications, air transport, shipping, and cannabis. He has extensive experience with the purchasing, financing, licensing and restructuring of intellectual and entertainment properties, including: branding and research and development agreements. Stephen is also an adjunct professor of law and has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court, the Commercial List of the Ontario Superior Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal and numerous tribunals including the Trademark Opposition Board, CRTC, Canadian Transportation Agency, RECO, OREA, Ad Standards, Ontario Energy Board, and Travel Council of Ontario. Stephen is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Ontario and is also a PhD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School; his PhD dissertation focuses on the intersection of intellectual property and personality rights in the realm of name, image, voice, and likeness.
Stephen’s representative work includes having acted for:
- Intel Corporation in connection with the insolvency of Nortel Corporation and the auction bidding process for a portion of the Nortel domestic and international patent portfolio.
- Standard Lithium Limited in connection with the design and prosecution of four domestic and international patent families for its novel Processes For Recovery of Lithium from Primordial Brines.
- Oracle Corporation in the reclamation of its intellectual property rights in its retail and database management systems on the insolvency of the T. Eaton Company.
- Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and the producers of this theatrical productions “Phantom of the Opera,” “Cats,” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” in both sit-down Toronto productions and subsequent North American tours, as well as successful litigation in the insolvencies of both Cineplex Odeon Corp. and Livent Inc. Livent Inc., Re (1998) 45 BLR (2d) 249 and Cineplex Odeon Corp., Re, 26 CBR (4th) 21, 2001 CanLII 28465 (ON SC).
- Energy supplier and retailer Summitt Energy Management Inc. in several defences of agent conduct claims before the Ontario Energy Board and the Ontario Divisional Court In Re Summitt Energy Management Inc. EB-2010-0221, In Re Summitt Energy Management Inc. EB-2011-0316 and Summitt Energy Management Inc. v. Ontario Energy Board, 2013 ONSC 318 (Ontario Div Court) (CanLII).
- Air Miles International Trading BV and LoyaltyOne, Co. in over 120 successful proceedings before the Trademark Opposition Board, the Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal and Ontario Superior Court involving third party infringement use of the AIR MILES trademark.
- Warner Home Video and its related entities in the negotiation, conclusion and securitization of its worldwide outsourcing of the disc and media production, packaging and physical distribution of its film, television and music library to Technicolor.
- Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited in the defence of third-party patent and trademark infringement claims.
- Invictus MD Strategies Corp. and Acreage Pharm in numerous commercial agreements including a significant wholesale cannabis medical supply agreement with Deutsche Medizinalcannabis GmbH.
- The rights holder of Lord of the Rings in connection with the stage production of Lord of the Rings.
- LoyaltyOne, Co., in the sale of the AIR MILES® coalition marketing and reward program, and related intellectual property portfolio, to the Bank of Montréal.
- Representing a number of domestic and foreign investment firms in connection with regulatory issues pertaining to the $26 billion acquisition of Shaw Communications by Rogers Communications in 2023; to that time the largest telecom acquisition in Canada.
- Representing Grant Thornton LLP, the court-appointed monitor in the cross-border insolvency proceedings of BRON Media Corp and is US, Canadian and European subsidiaries. BRON Media Group was a significant service producer for the major US film and television studios and streaming services producing media under contract, including Academy Award winning content.
