Arcade IP & Business Law
Automatically compiled listing. Details may contain errors.9 lawyers · City of Ottawa, City of Toronto
One of 436 law firms listed in Ottawa, and one of 38 handling Intellectual Property.
About Arcade IP & Business Law
Arcade IP & Business Law helps companies protect, enforce and earn from what they create, pairing patent, trademark, copyright and industrial design work with corporate and business law. Its clients fall into three groups: startups and fast-growing companies that need IP strategy able to grow with them, established companies that treat IP as a business asset, and international IP firms looking for a Canadian partner on filings, enforcement and litigation.
The firm used to practise as Andrews Robichaud, and Michael D. Andrews and Pierre Robichaud are its founding partners. Michael Andrews acts for clients from entrepreneurs up to Fortune 100 companies, across sectors that run from high-tech and biotech to consumer goods, sport, entertainment and the arts. Clients the firm has served span consumer products, industrial and high-tech companies, pharmaceutical and biotech businesses, and sports and entertainment.
A lot of the team comes to the law with technical or business training. Pierre Robichaud is a Professional Engineer, and the patent group draws on engineering, life sciences and business experience as well as legal training. On the corporate side, the team includes people who have run businesses of their own, not only lawyers.
Clients who prefer French can work with Pierre Robichaud, Jean-Pierre Bouchard or Martin Villeneuve, and Alessandro Colonnier also works in Italian. Arcade has offices on Carling Avenue in Ottawa and on Bay Street in Toronto, where corporate lawyer Samuel Michaels is based.
History
By early 2004, Michael Andrews and Pierre Robichaud were carrying on their law practices together as Andrews Robichaud, a full service intellectual property and business law firm in Ottawa, working from 292 Somerset Street West. The firm's Ottawa phone and fax numbers from that time are still the ones it uses today.
The current name came when the leadership team grew. Rather than add a third surname and become Andrews Robichaud Colonnier, the partners built a new name from the initials ARC, and Arcade was the result. The name is meant to sound like "ARC-aid".
Practice areas
Patents
Patent work at Arcade starts with working out which inventions are worth protecting, then moves to filing in Canada or abroad, stopping copycats, and licensing or selling a patent so it earns money even when the owner doesn't make the product. Pierre Robichaud drafts and prosecutes patents, and Demar Pitter works with life sciences, chemical and engineering clients.
Trademarks
Trademark files begin with an availability check before a client commits to a brand, and carry on through registration and enforcement in Canada and other countries. Steven Andrews covers trademark matters from filing and prosecution to oppositions and expungements, and Senior Trademark Agent Tracy Corneau brings more than 25 years of experience with clearance, prosecution and opposition work at home and abroad.
Industrial designs, copyright and domain names
For products whose shape, pattern or look sets them apart, Arcade registers industrial designs and enforces those rights. It also acts when someone copies a client's work, and Alessandro Colonnier handles domain name disputes.
IP litigation and disputes
Arcade's litigators take on infringement of patents, trademarks and copyright, as well as unfair competition and broken contracts, and they'll join a passing off claim to a trademark or copyright action. Pierre Robichaud appears before CIPO, provincial Superior Courts, the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, and Jean-Pierre Bouchard, a Registered Patent Agent, works in both patent prosecution and IP litigation.
Corporate and business law
Martin Villeneuve heads the corporate and business law group, which handles incorporations, shareholder agreements, financing and private placements, and changes to share classes, holding companies and ownership. The group plans for IP from the start of a company's life. Martin Villeneuve is admitted to the bars of both Quebec and Ontario, and counsel Thomas J. Marlay concentrates on private equity, venture capital, commercial leasing and technology licensing.
Commercialization and funding
Arcade helps owners make money from their IP through licensing and transfers, franchising and syndication. When a business applies for funding, the firm helps write and review the submission so the IP comes across as an asset worth investing in.
Good to know
Wheelchair accessibleHow Arcade IP & Business Law works
Speed is part of the firm's method: Arcade works on the basis that timing matters in IP and business law, so it acts quickly and plans its moves. In disputes, its policy is to avoid pointless lawsuits and costly fights that go nowhere, and because court isn't always the right answer, it uses negotiation, mediation and arbitration as well.
Milestones & recognition
- In 2023, Best in Ottawa named the firm among the "Best IP Lawyers in Ottawa".
- Senior Trademark Agent Tracy Corneau edited and co-wrote Trademark Practice in Canada: A Practical Guide.
- Tracy Corneau received IPIC's Education Foundation Award for the highest national marks.
- Michael D. Andrews is an author and a frequent speaker on IP law, licensing and business strategy.
In the community
- Samuel Michaels founded Canada Legal Help and works with several access-to-justice initiatives across the GTA.
Affiliations & connections
- International Trademark Association (INTA): Michael D. Andrews is a member of the International Trademark Association.
- Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC): Michael D. Andrews is a member of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada.
- American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA): Pierre Robichaud is a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
- Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario (AJEFO): Pierre Robichaud is a member of Ontario's association of French-speaking jurists.
Lawyers 9
Alessandro Colonnier
Partner
Intellectual PropertyBusiness & Corporate Law
Demar Pitter
Associate
Intellectual Property
Jean-Pierre Bouchard
Associate
Intellectual Property
Martin Villeneuve
Head of Corporate and Business Law
Business & Corporate LawIntellectual Property
Michael D. Andrews
Senior Partner
Intellectual Property
Paolo Tana-Chirico
Lawyer
Pierre Robichaud
Senior Partner
Intellectual Property
Samuel Michaels
Associate
Thomas J. Marlay
Counsel
Business & Corporate Law
This firm’s lawyers at a glance
- Law schools
- University of Ottawa (4), La Trobe University, Osgoode Hall Law School, Queen's University 7 of 9 lawyers
- Languages on the roster
- English, French, Italian
Who handles what
Offices 2
The neighbourhood
In Ottawa, Arcade works from Suite 215 at 1673 Carling Avenue. The street is named for Sir John Carling, and it runs for 19 kilometres.
The Toronto office is in Suite 1400 at 330 Bay Street, a 16-storey tower from 1925 by the architects Chapman and Oxley that's now known as the Northern Ontario Building. It sits in the city's financial core, around the corner from the Eaton Centre and a few minutes from the PATH system.
Frequently asked questions
- My invention involves antennas or AI systems. Does Arcade have someone with that technical background?
- Arcade's Alessandro Colonnier has a B.A.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ottawa, and that technical knowledge covers communication networks, digital signal processing, antennas and AI systems.
- Can Arcade help my startup find grants that don't cost us equity?
- Arcade points clients to government grants and IP-specific funding programs that can bring in money without giving up equity. It also introduces clients to partners such as accountants, C-suite professionals, developers and IT specialists.
- Can Arcade go after a competitor's patent that should never have been granted?
- Arcade will contest a weak patent that ought never to have been granted, and it also enforces clients' own patents against infringers.
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