Yoon Kang

Practice Areas

Yoon Kang is one of the few women first chair litigators in Canada. She is a Principal in the Toronto office where her practice has focused on life sciences patent litigation and prosecution for more than 25 years. She has represented global innovator biopharmaceutical companies throughout her career in complex patent litigation, including under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations. In addition to her dynamic litigation practice, she counsels global (bio)pharmaceutical innovators and research institutions on all aspects of patent rights. Her expertise and knowledge of the patent system has proved instrumental to her successful representation of clients both in court and before the Patent Office. She has also shaped the law in Canada, including in her role as co-counsel before the Supreme Court of Canada in a seminal decision that rejected a very controversial development in Canadian patent law relating to the so-called “Promise Doctrine” and clarified the correct test for patent “utility”: AstraZeneca v. Apotex 2017 SCC 36. This victory was followed by Yoon and her team’s continued success in foreclosing further attempts to re-open or dilute the impact of the decision and securing for the patentee a clear judgment upholding its rights. Her professional accomplishments have resulted in many notable accolades. In 2021, Yoon was named “Patent Lawyer of the Year” at the Euromoney LMG Women in Business Law Americas Awards and in both 2020 and 2021 she was named a “Top Female Legal Practitioner for Life Sciences” by Euromoney LMG Expert Guide: Women in in Business Law. Yoon is also named a leading IP / Life Sciences legal practitioner in Chambers Canada, a “Leading Patent Litigation Practitioner” by IAM Patent 1000, one of the “Top 250 Women in IP” by Managing Intellectual Property, a ‘Best Lawyer in Life Sciences’ in North America by Euromoney Legal Media Group (2018) and was “Canadian Patent Non-contentious Attorney of the Year” in 2014. She is also recognized annually by leading Canadian and international publications, including Euromoney's Expert Guides: Women in Business law as a top female legal practitioner in the area of patents and Life Sciences, LMG Life Sciences as a 'Life Science Star', a “Leading Patent Litigation Practitioner” by IAM Patent 1000, Who's Who Legal Canada for Patents and Life Sciences, Who’s Who Legal: IP, The Best Lawyers in Canada for IP and Biotechnology, a “Stand-Out Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters, a “Litigation Star in IP” by Benchmark Canada, and a “World IP Review Leader” by WIPR. She is also a Lexpert-ranked Lawyer for IP, Biotechnology, Life Sciences, Health Sciences, and Technology.