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With over 25 years of experience practicing intellectual property law, and a sophisticated understanding of patent law, Brigide adeptly counsels business leaders on how to best protect and leverage their intellectual property assets to improve their business position, competitive advantage and bottom-line. Her holistic approach to patent law considers her clients’ ultimate business objectives, industry realities and even the sometimes personal component of IP.

With the mindset of an in-house counsel, Brigide is committed to understanding her clients’ needs when proposing effective IP portfolio strategies that not only utilize her own skills, but also those of her team members with complementary expertise in Trademarks, IP transactions and litigation.

Brigide’s expertise extends to all aspects of patent procurement in Canada and in the United States, including preparing and prosecuting applications and managing IP portfolios. Brigide offers expertise in the preparation of infringement and validity opinions as well as due diligence reports in the context of sales, acquisitions and other commercial transactions.

Brigide advises clients ranging in size from small and medium-sized enterprises to multinational corporations. Trained as an electrical and computer engineer, she has technical expertise in electronics, telecommunications, business methods, control systems, software and related technologies. Her patent procurement experience includes telecommunication systems architecture, TCP/IP protocols, computer graphics, graphical user interfaces, medical devices, image processing, speaker verification, speech recognition, railway systems, online commerce and digital switching, among others.

Brigide has twenty-five years of experience working with innovators in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. While completing her undergraduate degree, she worked at McGill University’s Centre for Intelligent Machines (CIM) computer vision lab with a team developing software tools to allow machines (robots) to recognize objects and navigate space. She also took graduate classes to explore voice recognition and natural language understanding technologies. Later, as she began her career in intellectual property, she worked with several innovative clients to leverage machine learning and AI in their products. In the more than two decades since her first encounter with AI, Brigide has built experience across a broad range of applications, including natural language understanding; the use of AI for predicting outcomes and guiding decisions in the medical field; image processing and computer vision; the use of AI for optimizing energy usage in various systems and in on-line commerce application to predict future needs and provide recommendations, to name but a few.

Brigide dedicates significant time and resources to increasing awareness of the importance of managing and protecting intellectual property in the province of Quebec. Over the years she has led the firm's involvement in supporting young entrepreneurs through initiatives such as le Concours des anges financiers de Montréal (2006, 2007 and 2008) and by volunteering with Montreal Inc. (formerly la Fondation du Maire de Montréal pour la jeunesse). Brigide is a past President of le Forum international de la propriété intellectuelle — Québec (FORPIQ) and she has been a member of the organizing committee for FORPIQ since 2009. Brigide is also fluent in French and English.

Upon receiving her undergraduate degree, Brigide was awarded the British Association Medal for Great Distinction, awarded to the highest-ranking student in the graduating class of each engineering discipline.