Heenan Blaikie has one of Canada’s leading and most respected marketing, advertising and regulatory law practices. We have provided in-depth, expert and practical advice in this area for over 20 years, priding ourselves on our outstanding service. We have a dynamic and dedicated team of legal professionals, who focus their practices exclusively on marketing, advertising and consumer product regulatory law or who combine their expertise in these areas with the related fields of intellectual property, entertainment, competition or privacy law.
We believe in providing our clients with consistent excellence in our work, exceptional breadth and depth of expertise, and forward-thinking solutions to their legal challenges.
Our Clients
Our clients include leading Canadian and international manufacturers, retailers, importers, exporters, marketers, advertising and PR agencies, including some of the world’s most well known brands and consumer packaged goods companies. Our practitioners advise clients of all sizes operating in a wide array of industries, such as:
- Retail
- Food and beverages, including alcoholic beverages
- Cosmetics
- Natural health products, drugs and medical devices
- Toys, video games and other products for children
- Electronics, textiles and other consumer goods
- Household, consumer and personal care products
- Film and television
- Automobiles
- Advertising, promotion and public relations
Industry-leading Expertise
We advise on a full range of marketing, advertising, promotion, packaging, and regulatory issues. Our experienced lawyers provide thorough advertising review and clearance services from concept through to creation, addressing issues such as false and misleading advertising, claim substantiation, and defending (or bringing) advertising challenges from consumers, competitors, or regulators. We have extensive experience drafting and negotiating agreements associated with marketing and advertising-related programs including agency-client, promotional, sponsorship, talent, charitable, confidentiality, and rights licensing agreements.
Our clients advertise in all types of media and we are well positioned to bring you practical and knowledgeable advice for all of your promotional activities whether in traditional broadcast, print, or other media or in mobile, online, or social media.
The breadth of our client base has allowed us to accrue in-depth knowledge of many industries including retail, food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, automotive, fashion, entertainment, cosmetics, drugs, natural health products, and more. We have extensive experience advising on Quebec-specific laws, including consumer protection, French language and the unique restrictions on advertising to children.
We provide exceptional service in helping our clients structure and implement contests, games, sweepstakes, and other promotions such as gift cards, coupons, rebates, and reward programs to comply with applicable laws. We have particular expertise in the area of social media, viral campaigns, and user-generated content. We also assist with the development of branded entertainment programs including branded content creation for film, television, and the Internet.
Our regulatory, packaging and labelling practice involves advising on all aspects of consumer goods, including product manufacture, packaging and labelling, importing, exporting, and compliance with specific rules of regulated products such as hazardous products, electronics, food, alcoholic beverages, natural health products, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices. We also have in-depth knowledge of the rules surrounding green marketing in Canada, paying keen attention to green marketing guidelines and cases abroad as well.
We work closely with our corporate, intellectual property, privacy, competition, entertainment, and litigation practices to bring clients full-service assistance with all their marketing, advertising, and product development initiatives.
Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance
We also provide assistance to clients running global campaigns and programs. We are the sole Canadian firm in the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance, a network of marketing and advertising lawyers in 55 countries. This partnership allows us to coordinate and consolidate advice for multinational promotional programs, ad campaigns, and privacy issues across a number of jurisdictions.
Organizational Involvement
Our lawyers are often called upon to chair and speak at top legal and industry conferences in Canada and abroad before clients, government representatives and other practitioners in the area of marketing, advertising and regulatory law. Lawyers within our group are actively involved in leading industry organizations, such as:
- Advertising Standards Canada
- American Bar Association (Section of Antitrust Law: Consumer Protection Committee and Private Advertising Litigation Committee)
- Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations [Section of Business Law: Consumer Law Sub-committee and Competition Law: Marketing Practices Sub-committee]
- Canadian Cosmetic Toiletry and Fragrance Association
- Canadian Marketing Association
- Direct Sellers Association of Canada
- Food & Consumer Products of Canada
- Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance
- Promotion Marketing Association
- Retail Council of Canada
- Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters
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