DEMETRIOS SMIRNIOS
The law offices of Mtre Demetrios Smirnios provide legal services to individuals, start-up, small and medium-sized businesses, as well as public and private corporations. Our mission is to provide the highest quality of legal services to our clients in a timely and cost effective manner. The firm acts within the context of a Canadian legal system that is based on common and civil law, and federal and provincial legislation.
Demetrios Smirnios was born in Montréal, Québec and is fluent in English, French and Greek. He studied arts and sciences at Mount Royal High School and Marianopolis College before earning a Bachelor of Laws from the Faculty of Law of Université de Montréal, and a Certificate in Management and Bachelor of Commerce with a Major in Accounting from the Faculty of Management of McGill University.
As a law student, Demetrios Smirnios represented the Université de Montréal at the Annual Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court team competition under the mentorship of distinguished jurists Daniel Turp and Nicholas Kasirer and co-authored one of the top three written factums in Canada.
While concurrently studying law and accounting at the Faculty of Law of Université de Montréal and the Faculty of Management of McGill University, respectively, Demetrios Smirnios worked with churches in a working class neighbourhood of Montreal to organize day care services for working families and a voter registration drive that encouraged landed immigrants to exercise their democratic rights.
Mtre Smirnios also completed the Bar Admission Course at the École du Barreau du Québec in Montréal before articling with the law firm McCarthy Tétrault. He is a member of the Barreau du Québec, Barreau de Montréal and enrolled as a trade-mark agent with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
As a lawyer, Mtre Smirnios has served on committees of his law society and contributed his constructive views and comments on various draft legislation including the Phase II reform of the federal business corporations law.
He is an active volunteer in his community, serving on the boards of numerous organizations, and has provided legal advice and services on a pro bono basis to a number of charitable, community and non-governmental organizations including the Canadian Hellenic Congress, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Toronto (Canada), the Congrès Hellénique du Québec, the Communauté Hellénique de Montréal, the Communauté Grecque Orthodoxe de Laval, the Communauté Grecque Orthodoxe des Archanges Michel et Gabriel (Cartierville), the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association, the Hellenic Scholarships Foundation, and other local church and community organizations.
He also served as co-chair of the 30th Anniversary Organizing Committee of the Archangels Church in Cartierville in 1997, a delegate of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Toronto (Canada) at the World Council of Hellenes (ΣΑΕ) Convention in Salonica (Macedonia) Greece in 2003, and honourary co-chair of the Gala Fundraising Committee of the Hellenic-Canadian Federation of Laconian Associations in 2013 for the benefit of charities in Sparta (Laconia) Greece.
Our knowledge base, library and in-depth legal research and analysis allow us to provide the highest quality client service, addressing business and legal needs efficiently and effectively.
For more information, please contact our office by telephone or e-mail at jds@smirnios.com. We look forward to serving the needs of our clients.
Our knowledge of the real estate industry allows us to offer comprehensive services to clients, including:
- Advice on acquisitions and dispositions of commercial real estate, from both the vendor's and the purchaser's perspective
- Drafting and negotiation of agreements of lease, from the landlord's or the tenant's perspective
- Litigation involving warranties and hidden defects, construction lien matters, landlord-tenant disputes arising during the term of a lease or upon its termination
Recognizing that the adversarial judicial process can be a costly and time-consuming affair, we strive to find negotiated solutions that avoid litigation.
If recourse to the courts cannot be avoided, we pursue our clients' interests aggressively.
Trade-marks are a key component of any successful business marketing strategy as they allow business owners to identify, promote and license their goods or services in the marketplace and to distinguish these from those of their competitors, thereby cementing customer loyalty. A trade-mark symbolizes the promise of a quality product and in today’s global and increasingly electronic marketplace a trade-mark is often the only way for customers to identify a company’s products and services.
Trade-mark protection hinders moves by unfair competitors to "free ride" on the goodwill of a company by using similar distinctive signs to market inferior or similar products or services. Loss, dilution or infringement of a high-value trade-mark could prove devastating to a business.
In Canada, the Trade-marks Act, a federal statute, offers a national registration across all provinces and territories. Provincial common law offers only limited local protection without such registration.
The total amount of time it takes to register a trade-mark is roughly one year provided that there are no objections on the part of the Trade-marks Office and no opposition from any third party following its publication in the Trade-marks Journal.
A registered trade-mark is good for 10 years. The registration may be renewed at the expiry of such 10 years and every 10 years thereafter, but each renewal must be effected before the end of each such period.