Biography
Zarya Cynader is a pragmatic and highly trained advocate who uses her technical expertise and legal acumen to win positive results for clients across a variety of innovative and regulated industries.
Zarya handles all types of intellectual property disputes, from patent disputes and proceedings under the PM(NOC) Regulations to trademark, breach of confidence/trade secret, copyright and industrial design matters. An accomplished civil litigator, she also has over a decade of experience in commercial disputes spanning industries from energy generation to retail fashion. Regardless of the subject-matter, Zarya prides herself on executing litigation strategies that achieve her clients’ business goals quickly and cost-effectively.
Zarya regularly appears before the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal in IP matters and has advocated for her clients before every level of court in Ontario as well as trial courts in British Columbia and Alberta.
In addition to her Canadian practice, Zarya is admitted to the bars of New York and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and has been admitted pro hac vice for the purposes of patent litigation in the District of Delaware. Her patent litigation practice routinely involves coordinating Canadian litigation in the context of multi-jurisdictional disputes and advising on cross-border aspects of IP strategy, including inter partes reviews (IPRs) and other proceedings before the USPTO.
Zarya is well-versed in both US and Canadian regulatory and patent law, particularly as it relates to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, and has successfully advanced her clients’ interests on a variety of issues before Health Canada and FDA. Alongside her litigation and regulatory practice, Zarya leverages her background in synthetic organic chemistry and deep understanding of the pharmaceutical, biotech, and chemical industries to advise clients on product launches and provide opinions on patentability, infringement, and validity.
Zarya strongly believes in mentoring future lawyers through experiential training. She has been a long-time adjunct faculty member at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, and is proud to work with the Structural Genomics Consortium to advance the legal frontiers of open science while educating a new generation of creative biotech lawyers.
Zarya also sits on the board of Conscience, a Canadian not-for-profit organization that leverages AI and open science to expedite medical breakthroughs. She is frequently invited to speak on IP and litigation topics and maintains an active involvement in the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada.
When not enjoying the view of the Toronto Islands from her office (or leading the charge to the local pub for trivia night), Zarya can be found exploring coral reefs in the South Pacific, hiking the canyons of Utah or the mountains of Peru, or simply getting back to her roots in beautiful British Columbia.
Recent Speaking Engagements
- “Injunctions: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada, IPIC2024 (St. John’s, Newfoundland) (September 26, 2024)
- Women in IP Panel – IP Osgoode Society x Osgoode Women’s Network, Toronto, ON (November 24, 2023)
- “Remedies and Views on Non-Infringing Alternatives Post-Dow v. Nova“, 12th Annual University of Toronto Patent Colloquium, Toronto, ON (November 10, 2023)
- “Remedies for Patent Infringement – Dow v. Nova: Key Issues”, IPIC2022, Whistler, BC (Sept. 29, 2022)
- “Patent Case Law Review – Infringement”, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (March 25, 2022)
- “Patent Case Law Review – Infringement”, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (April 13, 2021)
- “Patent Case Law Review – Infringement”, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (April 17, 2020)
- “Annual Pharma and Life Sciences Update”, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (Sept. 10, 2019)
- “Women & the Law – Technology and IP Forum”, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (Nov. 14, 2018)
- “CRISPR and Related Biotechnology Issues”, Technology and IP Group, Univ. of Toronto, Faculty of Law (Mar. 13, 2018)
- “Litigating IP Issues in Superior Court”, Ontario Bar Association (Nov. 22, 2016)
- Welcome Day – University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (Feb. 19, 2016)
- LAWS IP Conference, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (Dec. 12, 2014)