William Foster

About William Foster

William Foster is a Toronto associate in Gowling WLG's Intellectual Property Group, and enforcing clients' IP rights is the core of the work. Much of it means patent, trademark and copyright disputes in the Federal Court and the Ontario courts. Foster also advises on pharmaceutical regulatory questions, including data protection, supplementary protection certificates and the listing of patents.

Science came before law. After a BPHE (Hons.) at Queen's University, Foster completed an M.Sc. in cellular and molecular medicine at the University of Ottawa, research that drew funding from the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. That graduate work also earned a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canadian Graduate Scholarship and Training Program in Regenerative Medicine Fellowship Award.

Osgoode Hall Law School followed, with a JD in 2018. Foster was the very first student to receive IP Osgoode's David Vaver Medal for Excellence in IP, and research on how biologics litigation emerged in Canada won the Barry D. Torno Memorial Prize. There was hands-on time too: a SOCAN placement through Osgoode's IP Intensive program, research with Professor Vaver, and volunteer hours at the IP Osgoode Innovation Clinic helping early-stage innovators sort out their IP. Foster then joined Gowling WLG and was called to the Ontario bar in 2019.

Best Lawyers has listed Foster in Ones to Watch for Intellectual Property Law since 2023. At the Supreme Court of Canada, Foster acted with Matthew Estabrooks for SOCAN when the Court dismissed, with costs, the leave application in Bell Canada, et al. v. Copyright Collective of Canada, et al. Foster has also written for the firm, co-authoring a 2022 piece with Will Boyer on Janssen v Pharmascience, the first summary trial ruling on infringement in a pharma case under the PM(NOC) Regulations.