Partner, Trademark Agent, Head of Intellectual Property

Leading Canadian Intellectual Property and Technology Lawyer at Bennett Jones Calgary

Martin Kratz leads the intellectual property practice for Bennett Jones. He also leads the anti-spam practice and co-leads the ecommerce practice. His practice is focused in intellectual property and technology law, which includes substantive patent, copyright and trademark matters as well as matters of intellectual property transactions, IP commercialization, IP strategy and opinions, anti-spam, data protection, privacy, ecommerce, strategic alliances, mergers, acquisitions and technology transfers among technology companies. His practice is focused on the energy, electronic commerce, software, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, entertainment and related industries.

Martin continues to be internationally recognized as a leading lawyer. Among other recognition he is identified:

• as one of Canada’s most creative lawyers by Lexpert-Thomson in the US guide to Canada’s 100 Most Creative Lawyers;
• as one of Canada’s leading lawyers in The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada in each of the fields of intellectual property and technology law;
• ranked by Chambers and Partners for each of information technology law and intellectual property law;
• as an IP STAR by Managing Intellectual Property in each of the Patent and Copyright & Trademark handbooks;
• as one of Canada's leading cross-border lawyers in the Lexpert 2014 Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Corporate Lawyers in Canada;
• as amoung the top patent lawyers in the world in the 2014 IAM Patent 1000, The World's Leading Patent Practitioners;
• as among the world's top 648 patent lawyers in The International Who's Who of Patent Lawyers, 2013;
• listed by Who's Who Legal 2013 for Information Technology, Patents and Sports and Entertainment;
• as the exclusive winner of International Law Office / Lexology Client Choice Awards USA & Canada 2014 (national) for the Intellectual Property – Patents category;
• the winner of the International Law Office / Lexology ILO Client Choice Award (International) 2013;
• as a leading Internet and e-commerce lawyer in The International Who's Who of Internet & e-Commerce Lawyers by Who's Who Legal;
• as one of Canada’s leading lawyers in Woodward White’s The Best Lawyers in Canada for intellectual property law, technology law and information technology law;
• as a leading Internet and e-commerce lawyer in Who's Who Legal: Internet & e-Commerce;
• as highly recommended in technology law by the Practicing Law Institute;
• as a leading lawyer in Intellectual Property and Information Technology by Lawday;
• by Global 100 as 2014 Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year – Canada;
• as 2014 outsourcing Lawyer of the Year for Canada by Corporate Intl; and
• as a leading Canadian IP practitioner by winning the Corporate Intl Global Award, Intellectual Property Advisory Excellence in Canada.

Martin has written over 346 publications on various topics involving intellectual property, technology law or on related topics including the following books as sole or co-author: Canadian Anti-Spam Law, 2014; Canadian Internet Law, 2013; Anti-Spam Chapter of Electronic Commerce Law, 2013; Confidential Information Chapter of Director's Duties 2013; Outsourcing (Canada) 2012;IP&IT Handbook 2012/13: Volume 2: Data Protection – Canada; Licensing2012 (Canadian Forms & Precedents), Electronic Commerce Law 2012;Canadian Intellectual Property Law, 2nd Ed., 2010; Trademarks and Industrial Designs, 2002 (Canadian Encyclopedic Digest); Internet Law: A Business and Professional Guide, 1998 (Canada's first Internet law text); Canadian Intellectual Property Law, 1998; Obtaining Patents, 2nd Edition, 1999 (1st Edition published 1995); Protection of Copyright and Industrial Design, 1999, 2nd Edition (1st Edition published 1994); Information Systems Security: A Practitioner’s Guide, 1994 (2nd Edition published 2003); The Computer Virus Crisis, 1992, 2nd Edition (1st Edition published 1989 and translated into Russian, Japanese and Dutch versions); and Control and Security ofComputer Information Systems, 1988.

Martin is national co-director of Osgoode Hall Law School's Intellectual Property LLM program. Teaching or having taught courses in Intellectual Property Law, Biotechnology Law and Internet Law at several law schools, Martin is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto) and at Concordia University College (Edmonton). At Osgoode Hall Law School (York University) Martin teaches, as lead national instructor,Intellectual Property Transactions and co-teaches Intellectual Property Theoretical Frameworks for the Intellectual Property LLM Program. He also teaches Intellectual Property Law for the Health Law LLM Program. He also acts as Regional Director of the E-Business LLM program.

Among other memberships, Martin is a member of the American Bar Association’s Science & Technology, Patent, Copyright & Trademark, Sports & Entertainment and International Sections, a member of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, a Fellow of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada, and a Fellow of the Canadian Information Processing Society. He was appointed to the Board of Governors of Alberta College of Art + Design (ACAD) in July 2014 for a three-year term.

Select Experience

• Statoil Canada Ltd. in connection with acquisition by PTTEP Canada Limited of the remaining 60% ownership interest in the Thornbury, Hangingstone and South Leismer oil sands areas in exchange for Statoil’s 40% stake in the Leismer and Corner projects and approximately US$200 million in cash. Read more
• Members of the Sanjel Group, an international leader in innovative down hole well services, in connection with the acquisition of certain worldwide intellectual property and other assets from Sure Tech Tool Services Inc., a completions company, and also certain worldwide intellectual property and other assets from Noram Oil Services Inc.Read more
• Omstead Foods Limited, in connection with the divestment of its frozen vegetable and coated appetizer division to Bonduelle SA and its frozen fruit division to Silver Valley Farms.

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Recent Recognitions

• 2015, WTR 1000: The World's Leading Trademark Professionals

Martin P.J. Kratz, recognized among the top 1000 Trademark professionals in Litigation and Enforcement

"Kratz is an all-round IP whiz who pens regular articles and chapters on IP and IT law in Canada."

• 2015, Expert Guides: Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers

Martin P.J. Kratz, recognized as a leading lawyer in the area of technology, media and telecommunications

• 2015, Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada

Martin P.J. Kratz, recognized as a leading computer and IT lawyer

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Recent Publications

• 6 Cloud Considerations For Tech Start-ups
• Data Hosting and Data Breaches
• How Privacy Laws In Canada Affect The Cloud

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News & Events

• Patent Law in Light of The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
• Using Intellectual Property to Facilitate Clean Tech Commercialization
• Intellectual Property Challenges in the Digital Era in the 21st Century

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Blog Posts

• Defending Enforcement Under CASL: Establishing Due Diligence
• First Steps if You Receive a CASL Enforcement Notice
• CASL Software Provisions now in Force

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While a local news organization has misinterpreted technical information regarding the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP), the AMP reports that 2015 has actually been a solid year for the Panama Ship Registry―despite headwinds from a  slowing global economy. An AMP press release revealed the following:

• As per Lloyd’s Register of Ships, the Panama Ship Registry ranks # 1 in the world with over 8,100 registered vessels that comprise 218 million gross registered tons (GRT), representing 18% of the world’s merchant fleet.
• In the first 11 months of 2015, there was a net growth of over 350 vessels (flaggings minus deletions), which represents an increase of 136 vessels (62%) when compared with the same period in 2014.
• During the period of January to November 2015, 422 newly constructed ships were registered in the Panama Ship Registry compared to 413 during the same period in 2014. This increase represents, in terms of GRT, almost a million tons (700,000 tons).
• The AMP estimates that the Panamanian fleet will add almost 600 newly constructed vessels over the next five years (2016-2020).

Who is Mossack Fonseca?

The AMP press release went on to indicate that they are guided by business strategies based on four pillars: (i) security and prevention; (ii) sustainability; (iii) registration; and (iv) business. They stressed that their business strategies are based on carefully considered, scientific analyses of all relevant aspects of the shipping industry.

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