Shane Hardy

About Shane Hardy

When intellectual property sits at the heart of a deal, global brand owners bring in Shane Hardy. Hardy is a partner in the Intellectual Property group at Gowling WLG's Toronto office and is often asked to lead international portfolio acquisitions, licensing arrangements and brand expansion projects. The advice covers acquiring, licensing and protecting the IP that a company's commercial plans are built on, for clients in technology, manufacturing, retail and entertainment.

Hardy's career started with a call to the Ontario bar in 2002, and registration as a trademark agent followed a year later. A partnership in the Toronto office of Cassels Brock & Blackwell came next. In June 2021 Hardy moved with a group of Cassels lawyers to Cozen O'Connor's Canadian practice, taking the chair of its Canadian Intellectual Property Practice Group and later serving as managing partner of the Toronto office. The British Columbia call came that same year. Hardy then joined Gowling WLG as a partner together with Vancouver-based Brigeeta Richdale, and the two still share a book of business and work as a team.

On the trademark side, the work spans a brand's whole life: clearance, filing, portfolio management, enforcement and disputes. Hardy has appeared at every level of court in Canada. Companies also lean on Hardy to work through international regulatory regimes and to respond to enforcement actions arising from claims made in online marketing or about a product, or from disclosure duties that cross borders.

Speaking with Canadian Lawyer, Hardy pointed to Canadian businesses looking past their usual trading partners toward markets such as the UK, Germany and China, and noted that counterfeiters and legitimate businesses alike are testing the limits of IP law more boldly than before.