Steven Kennedy is a partner in the Intellectual Property Group. Certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Certified Specialist in Intellectual Property (Trademarks) and ranked in both Enforcement and Prosecution by World Trademark Review’s WTR1000, Steven works with rights holders and brand owners to secure, manage, and enforce their intellectual property in Canada and abroad. In addition to prosecuting and managing a wide ambit of domestic and international trademark and industrial design portfolios, Steven regularly acts as advocate to defend and enforce his client’s intellectual property rights before the Federal and Ontario courts as well as administrative tribunals, including the Trademarks Opposition Board, and arbitration panels in domain name disputes. He also regularly works with clients and foreign counsel alike in multi-jurisdictional disputes. He has been a member of leadership committees for the International Trademark Association since 2013, and currently co-chairs the Technology Monitoring Subcommittee of the Brands and Innovation Committee. He is active with the Intellectual Property Litigation Committee of the Defense Research Institute where he serves as the Membership Chair. In 2022, Steven was named a Lexpert Rising Star, an award that celebrates Canada’s leading lawyers under 40.
Steven’s experience includes:
- Prosecuting trademark and industrial design applications before the Canadian Intellectual Property Office as a registered Trademark Agent
- Representing clients in trademark oppositions and cancellation proceedings before the Trademarks Opposition Board as well as appeals before the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal
- Providing opinions to clients on intellectual property availability and registrability as well as freedom to operate
- Assisting in the drafting and prosecution of patent applications
- Acting as litigation counsel in patent, trademark, regulatory, and commercial actions in the Ontario and Federal Courts
He graduated from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Common Law, cum laude, in 2008, where he served on the Executive of the Ottawa Law Review as Candidate Coordinator and Senior Editor. Steven joined Cassels in 2012 from an intellectual property and commercial litigation practice at a large, national firm in Ottawa and is conversant in French.
An avid actor, Steven regularly participates in the Nightwood Theatre Lawyer Show and was an active member of the County of Carleton Law Association’s Lawyer Play Committee and helped organize, and participated in, annual theatrical productions with members of the Ottawa bar for charity. He also has a number of publications in the Advocates’ Quarterly, Canadian Intellectual Property Review, Internet and E-Commerce Law in Canada, and For the Defense journals. He is an annual contributor to the International Trademark Association’s enforcement guides and serves as a guest lecturer at York University’s IP Osgoode program.
