LLB (Ottawa), LLB (Dalhousie), of the Bar of Ontario
Anthony de Fazekas is an IP strategist with Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, working with a broad range of IP-rich companies across a number of sectors, with a particular focus on FinTech and information technology including artificial intelligence (AI). He supports corporate innovation agendas of enterprises end-to-end; devising innovation protection processes, IP mining strategies, deploying technology to streamline IP development, leading IP brainstorming sessions, upgrading the various agreements and policies relevant to open innovation and digital transformation, and providing advice on patent pooling arrangements and participation in IP, blockchain and smart contract consortia.
Mr. de Fazekas has worked extensively in the innovation sector with many research institutions, large corporate innovators, clusters, startups and scaling technology companies. He is lead outside counsel to many scale-ups: managing cross-disciplinary teams, systemizing legal offerings, and advising on a range of IP and commercial issues.
He developed his firm’s scaleup preparedness program, which includes a series of modules on key legal/IP/regulatory topics that help scaleups accelerate their business globally, to remain agile while managing risks.
As the head of technology and innovation for Canada, he manages his firm’s extensive, cross-practice technology and innovation industry group. He leads thought leadership initiatives in Canada, is part of our global, integrated technology and innovation team, and is responsible for continuous build out of our scaleup program including associated legal technology.
Mr. de Fazekas is a regular lecturer on IP- and innovation-related topics, including, for example, the IP portion of the Rotman FinTech MBA elective course, IP commercialization for Osgoode Hall Law School. He speaks extensively about a range of topics, including protecting value and managing risk in technology collaborations, legal and ethical implications of AI (especially from the point of adoption of AI by enterprises), data sharing and ownership arrangements in AI, and IP strategy and IP development programs for scaleups.