Ilya Kalnish supports both large international corporations and smaller start ups / scale ups in developing complex intellectual property strategies. A patent agent in Canada, and a trademark agent in Canada and in the United States, he specializes in artificial intelligence, information technology (IT), and mechanics. Ilya is also involved as a member of BCF's Board of Directors.
Ilya is particularly effective in obtaining watertight legal protection for inventions in several countries around the world, while optimizing the cost-benefits ratio associated with such procedures. He has developed a particular expertise in computer implemented inventions and, particularly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) type inventions (such as search algorithm, recommendation engines, self-driving cars, natural language processing, AI assisted dental planning, to name a few). Before joining BCF, he held key intellectual property management posts in large corporations in Toronto, such as Bell Canada and Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd, the world’s largest supplier of industrial solutions in the injection molding industry. During his time at Husky, Ilya was instrumental in developing internal IP management strategies that resulted in the Husky Legal/IP team winning the 2010 Inside Counsel Award for their “holistic patent strategy” approach.
In 2017, 2018 and 2019, Ilya receives the Client Choice Awards, a prestigious international award that annually honors the best professionals in the legal sector, selected by the clients. A native of Russia, Ilya speaks English, Russian and Bulgarian fluently. He also chairs the Committee for the Patent Agents Training Course for the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada. Ilya is a frequent speaker at various conferences and courses, including IPIC/McGill “Introduction to Patents” course, IPIC patent agent training course, Federated Press patent strategy conference.
Year Joined Firm: 2013
Education/Alumni:
- Registered Trademark Agent (Canada) (2010)
- Registered Trademark Agent (USA) (2010)
- Registered Patent Agent (Canada) (2006)
- B.A. (1st Class Honors), Business Administration and Management, Oxford
- Brookes University (UK) (1996)
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