Stay compliant, confident and protected in your IP practice. In this practical ethics session you will examine how ethical issues arise in Trade Marks and Patent matters, particularly in conflict‑sensitive situations involving former clients or connected parties, using recent cases to highlight risks and practical ways to manage them.

Presenters

Dr Steven Stern CTA FIPTA ICC, Barrister-at-Law, Svenson Barristers and Adjunct Professor, Victoria Law School, Victoria University
Dr Steven Stern FIPTA CTA ICC BEc LLB (Mon) LLM PhD (Melb), a former Mallesons' Senior Associate, practises at the Victorian Bar specialising in litigation and other disputes relating to trade marks, patents, copyright and other intellectual property. Dr Stern is a Fellow of The Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia. He is a Registered Trade Mark Attorney. From 2017 to 2023 Dr Stern was the Honorary Secretary of List S Svenson Barristers. Dr Stern presently is the Honorary Secretary of the Victorian Bar Council's Library Committee. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Victoria Law School and a Research Associate in the Institute of Sustainable Industries and Livable Cities at Victoria University; and a Supervising Practitioner in the Melbourne Law School Tax Clinic at The University of Melbourne. As Corporation Secretary/Principal Legal Officer at the Australian Wool Corporation, Dr Stern oversaw the patent and trade mark activities of what was for many decades Australia’s largest export industry. Subsequently, as University Secretary/University General Counsel at Victoria University, Dr Stern oversaw the patent and trade mark activities of an instittution which has developed a globally recognised excellence in the novel ways it undertakes scholarship, pure and applied research, invention, innovation, education and consultancy of international standing.

Glenn McGowan KC, Special Counsel, Gadens
Glenn McGowan KC is a Special Counsel at Gadens, with over 40 years of experience in practice, almost exclusively in the superior and appellate courts. He spent 27 years at the independent Bar, taking silk in 2004, before joining Gadens in 2015 as its inaugural Chief Counsel. His practice is heavily dominated by large intellectual property cases (patents, trade marks, copyright, confidential information, trade practices and designs), mostly in the Federal Court, involving all areas of technology, including chemistry, software, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, engineering, polymers, etc. Glenn is a qualified mediator and arbitrator. He appears in and advises in general commercial disputes in all courts, briefed by Gadens and other firms. He regularly appears in ranking publications (Doyles, etc) for contentious intellectual property, trade marks, patents, biotechnology and class actions.