Michael Schwartz

About Michael Schwartz

Patent, trademark and copyright disputes are the core of Michael Schwartz's work. An associate in Gowling WLG's Toronto office and part of the firm's Intellectual Property Group, Schwartz has acted for innovative pharmaceutical companies in complex fights that cross borders, from patent cases under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations to trademark matters over drug names.

The cases aren't limited to pharma. Schwartz has litigated for clients in biologics, medical devices, agriculture, trucking and online streaming, along with consumer goods as varied as food, nutritional supplements, cleaning chemicals and wood splitters. That work has taken the associate before the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, and some disputes have ended at the mediation table rather than at trial.

Science came first. Schwartz studied genetics as an undergraduate at Western University and then earned a master's in cell and systems biology at the University of Toronto, with thesis research on how transcriptional networks behind pluripotency in mouse embryonic stem cells shift once differentiation begins. Law school followed back at Western, where the JD (2016) included a concentration in intellectual property, information and technology. Schwartz was called to the Ontario bar in 2017 and spent time at two Toronto intellectual property firms before coming to Gowling WLG.