Joanna Cheuk-Yu Ma

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Joanna offers her clients strategic advice on developing and growing IP portfolios that are aligned with their business opportunities and goals. She assists her clients with commercializing and monetizing these IP rights and provides a balanced approach to the enforcement of their IP rights. Joanna provides guidance on licensing and drafting and negotiation support for IP agreements, including technology and patent license agreements.

With an electrical engineering background, Joanna specializes in patenting software‑driven technologies and associated systems, including artificial intelligence, audio systems, autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, medical devices and imaging systems, telecommunication systems and robotics. She is experienced in drafting and prosecuting patent applications in these sectors and closely follows Patent Offices’ guidance and trends on patenting software‑driven innovations to increase prosecution efficiency. Another significant component of her practice is obtaining design protection for clients’ products in a manner aligned with their business objectives. She has extensive experience in obtaining and enforcing design protection.

Joanna has contributed to various aspects of patenting software‑driven technologies, including co‑authoring Canada’s chapter in Intellectual Property in Electronics and Software: A Global Guide to Rights and Their Applications, Second Edition . She has also co‑authored the chapter Patent and Other IP Protection for Engineering and Technology Startups in Startup Law 101: A Practical Guide .

Joanna supports the growth of Canada’s technology ecosystem. She is an IP strategy advisor at several innovation hubs across Ontario and is a frequent speaker on the subject.