Michel SofiaBCF LLP, Montréal, CANADAContact Information:
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| Engineer, Patent Agent Michel Sofia joined BCF as a senior partner in 2006, having gained over 18 years' experience in the field of intellectual property and served as a partner with several large Montréal-based firms. Prior to becoming a patent agent, Michel worked in the engineering department of Imperial Tobacco in Montreal, assisting in the automation of cigarette production lines. He also had stints with Honeywell in both Montréal and Toronto, as a technical specialist in commercial building controls. He began his career in the patents industry in May 1987, and obtained his Canada and U.S. patent agent accreditation in 1990. He is currently responsible for managing and supervising national and international patent and industrial design portfolios for clients in mechanics and related fields. Michel?s expertise covers the following technology sectors, among others: bioengineering, robotics, hardware and tools, optics, construction, manufacturing devices and processes (including automation), industrial processes, civil engineering, printing, forest products and sports. Michel's practice encompasses the securing of patents and industrial designs (including the issuing of innovation patentability opinions, drafting of patent applications, and drafting of industrial designs and their prosecution in Canada and the U.S. as well as in Europe and elsewhere) in addition to drafting of opinions on infringement, validity and right-to-manufacture. He also acts as a patent and industrial design adviser in litigation matters. Other duties Michel is a Fellow of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) and a past Chair of its Montréal section. He served on IPIC Patent Agents Examining Board from 1994 to 1999, and acted as its Chair from 1997 to 1999. He has been a tutor in the annual IPIC/McGill University Patent Seminar since its inception in 1994, as well as assistant program Director for the seminar?s 1998 edition, and then its Director in 1999. Since 1998 he has also been a lecturer at this seminar. Michel sat as a member of IPIC's Council from 2002 to 2004, and has been elected back as its Treasurer. He also serves on the IPIC Joint Liaison Committee on Patents, Patent Agent Qualifying Examinations Review Committee and Industrial Designs Committee. He is also a past member of other IPIC committees, including the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Committee. Michel is currently President of the Canadian Group of the International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (AIPPI). He was co-Chair of the AIPPI Canada Q137 Committee concerning the future of the patent system in Europe, and chaired the AIPPI Canada Q157 Committee regarding the relationship between technical standards and patent rights. Since 2001 he has served as international co-Chair of AIPPI Special Committee Q170 on the Substantive Patent Law Treaty, as co-Chair of the AIPPI Canada Q189 Committee, dealing with amendments to patent claims after grant (in court and administrative proceedings, including re-examination proceedings requested by third parties), and he is also the currect co-Chair of the AIPPI Canada Q193 on Divisional, Continuation and Continuation-in-Part Patent Applications. Michel chaired the organizing committee for the summer 1998 Symposium of the Canadian, U.S. and British groups of the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (known by its French acronym FICPI) in Mont Tremblant, Canada. He is also a member of the Association de la recherche industrielle du Québec (ADRIQ), and was a member of its Board of Directors from 2004 to 2006. |
