Neil Melliship

Neil Melliship is a partner of the firm and the Chair of the Intellectual Property Group. He is also a member of the firm's Technology and Health Care Groups.

Neil has a background in commercial law and his practice is focused on complex intellectual property and other legal issues arising out of the development, licensing, implementation and use of information technology. His clients include a wide array of computer software developers, hardware and electronics manufacturers, major financial and insurance service providers, public bodies, franchisors and other businesses involved in developing, commercializing, acquiring and implementing information technology-based products and services.

Intellectual Property Services

• Trademark registration, enforcement, licensing and portfolio counseling
• Domain name registration, acquisition and disputes
• Intellectual property audits and due diligence
• Copyright registration, enforcement, licensing and counseling
• Industrial Design applications and counseling
• Trade Secret counseling
• Social Media advice and counseling
• Commercialization and transfer of IP rights
• Intellectual Property aspects of employment and contractor agreements

Technology Services

• Master agreements for procurement of hardware, software and professional services
• Outsourcing agreements
• Software licensing and support agreements, including for SaaS, IaaS and PaaS services
• Hardware and software design and development agreements
• Website terms of use and privacy policies
• Open source software licenses and related issues
• Licensing, bundling and distribution agreements
• Hosting and co-location agreements
• Marketing and promotional agreements
• Manufacturing, supply, distribution and sales representative agreements
• Licensing and acquisition of systems and hardware

Neil has written a number of articles on intellectual property matters, including a summary of the Canadian trademark registration process, a review of the licensing provisions under the Canadian Trade-Marks Act, a guide to choosing enforceable trademarks, and the .ca Domain Registry. He has also been a presenter on intellectual property law for the Centre for Digital Media, Masters of Digital Media Program at Great Northern Way Campus, on Ecommerce in Canada for Insight, on technology licensing issues for the BC Continuing Legal Education and on advanced trade-mark law issues for Law Seminars International.

Based on peer selection, Neil has been repeatedly recognized as one of the Best Lawyers in Canada for Intellectual Property Law, Information Technology and Technology Law, as well as being named the Best Lawyers' 2014 Vancouver Technology Law "Lawyer of the Year." Neil has also been repeatedly named to the World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000, an annual listing of the World's Leading Trademark Practitioners, in the category of Individuals: Prosecution and Strategy.

Neil is a co-founder of and regular contributor to the Canadian Trademark Blog (trademarkblog.ca). He is regularly called on by the media to comment on current trade-mark, domain name and other intellectual property matters.

Neil graduated from the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law. He is an active volunteer in community organizations, including Habitat for Humanity (in El Salvador), Global Access (in Honduras).