Harold G. Fox

Harold George Fox, (1896 – 1970) was a Canadian lawyer, scholar, and businessman. He was widely known for his texts on Canadian intellectual property law, litigation, and for his involvement in the zipper business (first as a lawyer and later as managing director of the Lightning Fastener Company in association with Gideon Sundback).

Biography

Early life and career Harold Fox was born in 1896 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended the University of King's College and Osgoode Hall Law School. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1919, and began practice as an intellectual property lawyer with Fetherstonhaugh & Co (now known as Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh) in Toronto. He advanced quickly in the profession, becoming a partner of the firm in 1923 along with Frederick Fetherstonhaugh to form Fetherstonhaugh & Fox. However, by 1927, Fox had left to start his own practice. In 1937, he was created a King's Counsel. By the 1940s, Fox had published three landmark treatises on intellectual property, one each on Canadian patent law, copyright law, and trademark law. These books were some of the first comprehensive treatises on the subject of Canadian intellectual property law, and have been widely cited since by courts and academics. He also published a series of annotated law reports entitled "Fox's Patent Cases" focusing on Canadian intellectual property law, which was widely distributed in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Lightning Fastener Company As a lawyer, Fox was involved in numerous intellectual property law cases, the most famous of which were the "zipper" cases on behalf of the Lightning Fastener Company. Gideon Sundback, the owner of numerous patents related to zippers, had set up the Lightning Fastener Company in St. Catharines, Ontario to manufacture and sell zippers. Sundback retained Fox to protect his patent rights, which resulted in a series of landmark cases decided at the Supreme Court of Canada and the Privy Council.

Further education and honours Fox earned a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 1940, during his time away from full-time legal practice.

By the post-war era, Fox had become widely known as an expert in intellectual property law across the English-speaking world.

Return to legal practice In 1949, Fox returned to legal practice when Senator Salter Hayden of McCarthy & McCarthy (later known as McCarthy Tétrault) offered him a position as counsel in its fledgling intellectual property group. McCarthy had become acquainted with Fox as the opposing counsel in the zipper cases, and was familiar with his work. On the recommendation of Fox and his wife, the Fund established a scholarship for graduates in law from Ontario to study as pupils in chambers of English barristers.

Coat of Arms

Publications The Law and Practice of Letters Patent of Invention in Canada (1926), with Frederick B. Fetherstonhaugh The Canadian Law and Practice Relating to Letters Patent for Inventions (1937), also known as Fox on Patents 4th edition published 1969 The Canadian Law of Copyright and Industrial Designs (1944), also known as Fox on Copyright 2nd edition published 1967 The Canadian Law of Trade Marks and Unfair Competition (1956), also known as Fox on Trade-marks 3rd edition published 1972 (posthumously) Monopolies and Patents: A Study of the History and Future of the Patent Monopoly (1947)