Sharpen your skills and fine tune your practice by acquiring the latest updates in intellectual property from experts in the area. Designed for all intellectual property lawyers, attend to gain insights on the latest cases in patents, trade marks, designs and copyright including the reforms update. In the afternoon, learn the nuts of bolts of privacy and data protection for your practice, plus your ethical obligations and so much more!

Presenters

Nina Fitzgerald, Partner, Ashurst
Nina focuses on all aspects of contentious and commercial intellectual property law including patents, trade marks, copyright, designs, Australian Consumer Law and passing off. Nina has clients across a variety of industries including pharmaceutical and life sciences, technology, luxury brands and finance. Nina regularly acts in precedent setting litigation including highly technical patent matters. She advises on all aspects of disputes including pre-action strategy, freedom to operate advice, oppositions in the Registry, interlocutory injunctions, mediations, trials, appeals and damages claims. She has also acted in a number of intellectual property arbitration proceedings. On the commercial side, Nina advises a broad range of clients on their advertising and IP protection. Nina also advises her life sciences clients on the regulation of therapeutic goods. Nina regularly assists with assignment and licensing of IP rights as well as collaboration and contracting agreements concerning IP rights. Nina is a recognised practitioner in several independent legal directories and named in the Best Lawyers – Australia and IAM Patent 1000 ranks. She was the founding Chairperson of Women in Law Hong Kong and is the co-author of several Hong Kong Chapter Practical Law Global Guides published by Thomson Reuters. Nina is an expert in the interaction between AI and IP and is a thought leader in the legislative changes required to accommodate developments with AI. Nina is admitted as a Lawyer in Hong Kong and Australia.


Alison Jones, Special Counsel, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Alison Jones is a Special Counsel in the intellectual property practice of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Australia’s leading independent law firm. Alison specializes in intellectual property and consumer protection law, and advises clients across all business sectors on a range of IP, regulatory and related areas including IP strategy, advising on commercial arrangements of various kinds and contract drafting, advertising and marketing, competition and consumer law issues, IP enforcement, and commercial regulatory (including food law, cosmetics, life sciences and therapeutic goods regulation, product liability risk and recall, privacy and data protection). Alison's experience in this area also includes secondments at leading companies in IP-driven sectors, including fast moving consumer goods and life sciences.


Victoria Bell, Special Counsel, Baker McKenzie
Victoria's key expertise focuses in the Consumer Goods and Retail (CG&R) and the Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) industries. Victoria advises on the ability to register trade marks, designs and domain names. She files new applications, responds to examiner's objections, obtains information on the status of current registrations, files renewals, advises on transfers and infringements and manages opposition proceedings before IP Australia. Victoria also assists in and advises on the commercialisation of intellectual property rights and intellectual property aspects of corporate transactions, from scope of property included in the transaction through to risk or liability issues. She is an innovation ambassador for the firm and a former Chair of the Asia Pacific Senior Associates Steering Committee for IPTech.


Paul Whenman, Partner, FB Rice
Paul Whenman is a consulting partner in our Sydney chemistry team. As a qualified patent attorney, Paul has had a distinguished career with the firm as managing partner for 10 years. Throughout his 37 years’ practice in FB Rice, he has gained significant experience in chemically related patents, including pharmaceuticals, animal health products, food technology, personal care products and alloys. Indeed a significant component of Paul’s practice relates to the interplay between the regulation of pharmaceuticals and animal health products and patent systems. Of particular relevance is the patent term extension regime in Australia and foreign jurisdictions. Commensurate with his deep understanding of patent law and chemical technologies, Paul regularly publishes articles offering opinions and insights into a variety of topics. With a significant international reputation, Paul has been recognized as an IP Star for patent prosecution in Managing Intellectual Property for a number of years, most recently in 2022. He is also listed by IAM as a Strategy 300 IP strategist 2022. As the importance of South East Asian markets have grown, Paul maintains a strong focus on IP developments in those countries as means of providing the best experience for clients. Within FB Rice, Paul has trained and mentored many attorneys. An important component of this training has been a focus on the ethical considerations relevant for attorneys and the conduct of an attorneys practice. The experience gained as managing partner and subsequently as life sciences practice group leader combined with the technical and legal foundations as a practicing attorney, have provided Paul with a significant depth of knowledge of relevance to all patent and trade mark attorneys. In reliance of this knowledge, IPTA invited Paul to deliver two presentations to its members on ethics in 2020-2021.


Andrew Wiseman Partner, Allens
Andrew Wiseman is a partner of Allens. He has been advising Australian and international clients on intellectual property for over 25 years. With a strong commercial and litigation practice Andrew sees the IP angles from both sides. This insight informs getting it right at the front-end and how it can go horribly wrong at the back-end.


Odette Gourley, Partner, Corrs Chambers Westgarth
Odette is one of Australia’s foremost intellectual property and regulatory lawyers with special knowledge and experience in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. Odette is an expert across the full range of IP including patents, trade marks, copyright, registered designs and trade secrets. In regulatory and advertising and marketing law her expertise include the Competition and Consumer Act, regulation for TGA, PBS, NHA, APVMA, AICIS, FSANZ, Gene Technology, Biosecurity, cosmetics, FOI including industry ethical and advertising codes for a wide range of products. Odette has acted in notable cases that have changed the law. In patents, Odette acted for AstraZeneca (Hassle) in successfully defending the validity of a drug formulation patent and that case is now a leading authority on the standard for obviousness under Australian law. In administrative law, the decision in the Roche case on scheduling of over the counter medicines resulted in revision of the statutory provisions. In trademarks, Odette acted for Gallo in the High Court, now the leading authority on the nature of trade mark use, and for Winnebago in the Federal Court recovering the brand for the American owner after 30 years of unauthorized use. The Winnebago case established the principle of user pays damages for IP infringement under Australian law which are recoverable even where damages on a lost sales basis are not available nor an account of profits. In the Johnson & Johnson v Unilever case in the Federal Court, Odette successfully defended the methodology adopted for consumer in use testing to support comparative advertising claims. With her deep experience in all aspects of IP, regulatory and advertising and marketing law, Odette is able to provide illuminating insights in relation to recent developments and future trends.


James Lawrence, Partner, Mills Oakley
James Lawrence is an experienced intellectual property (IP) advisor and litigator. He is a Partner in Mills Oakley's IP team in Sydney where he specialises in the management of IP disputes. James has been recognised by his peers having been listed for both IP and biotechnology law in the Best Lawyers directory, for contentious IP in Doyle’s Guide as well as being recommended for IP in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific. He is also identified a Leader in IP by the World Intellectual Property Review. James is the Editor of the Patents chapter in Halsbury's Laws of Australia and regularly publishes and presents on IP issues.


Robert Wulff, Principal, Griffith Hack
Robert Wulff is a Sydney-based principal of national IP firm Griffith Hack IP Attorneys & Lawyers, having joined the firm in 1989. Robert's patent practice is focused on Australia's resources & building products industries and energy technologies. He works with a range of organisations to develop offensive and defensive IP strategies, working closely with his firm’s litigators and IP management consultants. He also has extensive experience in registered designs and is a WIPO-accredited designs expert. Robert is a registered patent attorney with degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney. Robert holds an equivalent Masters of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.


Melissa McGrath, Barrister, Nigel Bowen Chambers
Melissa McGrath is a specialist intellectual property lawyer with degrees in both law and science who advises domestic and multinational clients on commercial issues and dispute resolution strategy. She has worked with clients such as Universal Music Australia, Sony Music Australia, Westpac, Vodafone, Warner Chapel Music Australia, Louis Vuitton Malletier, Cadbury, Samsung, H Lundbeck and Mylan.


Julie Cheeseman, Partner, Bird and Bird
Julie is a partner in our Sydney office, where she specializes in media and technology disputes and advice. Julie has over 15 years' experience in managing IT&T and media disputes across a range of jurisdictions and forums. She enjoys working closely with her clients to devise and implement strategic and effective approaches to case formulation, presentation and resolution. Her technology dispute experience covers a variety of technologies and complex implementations including billing systems, inventory management systems, customer management systems, e-Health systems and satellite and cable transmission networks. She analyses complex IT supply contracts and gives detailed written advice on liability and remedies arising under contract and the common law. She also manages disputes for media organizations such as defamation, copyright, contempt and suppression order matters. She regularly provides pre-publication advice to editors, journalists and producers in relation to print, digital and film publications.In addition to her disputes practice, she advises on public and private sector clients with respect to Australia's privacy and data breach legislation. She also has a keen interest in assisting clients with internal and regulatory investigations.