Bennett Jones
Michael Whitt is both a Patent Agent (2001) and a Trademark Agent (1986) in addition to being a lawyer. Michael advises technology-based businesses on commercialization and compliance matters, and on the structure, negotiation and documentation of novel business models, strategies and transactions, particularly regarding intellectual property and information and other technologies. Michael has been involved with computer and information technologies for over three decades and advises small, medium and large clients with technology or intellectual property assets and operations. Clients include manufacturers, vendors, technology acquirers, ISPs, ASPs, outsource and cloud operators, e-Commerce and web-enabled transaction providers, fin-tech innovators, and infrastructure providers, agricultural and biotechnology operations, health informatics providers and users, geospatial and location-based service providers and professional self-governing bodies. Michael's recent focus is on data governance and cyber security, ISO 27000 and NIST compliance, lean sigma and agile, and the repatriation of outsourced core IT functionality.
Michael also assists clients with the protection of personal information and privacy law compliance, policy review and advice, contract terms in IT and other information-handling and information-flow transactions and operations, breach mitigation and notification, and response to regulatory inquiries and demands in private sector and health information matters both provincially and federally. Michael also has experience with transition services arrangements, and IP and technology transfers in very large M&A and EPC transactions.
Michael became Queen's Counsel in 2008. He is ranked BV, for very high ethical standards and legal ability, in Martindale-Hubbell's peer review. Michael has been recommended by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and Chambers Global.
Michael is a member of the Sedona Conference Working Group 7 (Sedona Canada), and Data Security and Privacy Liability - Working Group 11, both of which work to create forward-looking principles and best practices recommendations for lawyers, courts, businesses and others who regularly confront e-discovery issues in Canada, or Cyber-security and Data Protection issues globally. Of note, Michael has been appointed a member of WG11's Drafting Team to prepare a model Cyber Incident Response Guide. For 8 years, Michael was a board member and Chairman of Innovate Calgary, an innovation centre and technology incubator jointly held by the City of Calgary, the University of Calgary, and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. He is a Fellow of the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada and a Director of ITAC Health.