Australia

Firm overview

Our intellectual property lawyers help the world's leading businesses to use intellectual property to protect their investment, secure competitive advantage, and obtain successful commercial outcomes. We have acted on some of the most complex IP portfolios, transactions and disputes in our markets.

Intellectual property is increasingly a differentiator amongst global businesses, and changes in the IP landscape are gathering pace. In competing for growth in mature markets, global players are increasingly looking to their brands and innovations.

Whether you are looking to monetise your innovations, protect revenue streams, or structure your intellectual property effectively, our lawyers combine technical expertise and commerciality to achieve optimum outcomes for our clients. We help our clients protect and commercialise their innovations across sectors and continents, and are trusted with the most complex "bet the company" IP disputes and transactions. 

We manage worldwide portfolios for many leading brands and advise on strategy, protection and enforcement. We assist with strategic portfolio overview, rationalisation of intellectual property protection, clearance advice on use and registration of marks, and provide watching and monitoring services.

Network Memberships: AIPPI, BIA, EPLAW, INTA, ITMA, LES, LESANZ, IPLA, APRAM, CIPA, FAST

Last updated 21st October 2020

Firm overview

Madderns is an independently owned and operated Australian patent and trade mark attorney firm which services clients across Australian and around the globe.

From designing and advising on appropriate searches, through to the creation and enforcement of new patent, trade mark, design and domain name rights in Australia and overseas, Madderns provides a comprehensive range of services spanning the entire intellectual property (IP) life cycle. Madderns’ services also include assisting clients with managing their IP portfolios by conducting audits to identify and capture IP assets and providing strategic advice to help identify and manage risks associated with third party IP rights.

Madderns’ patent team has a breadth of capability across all relevant technical areas, including chemistry, ICT, mechanical engineering, mechatronics, life sciences, plant breeding rights and circuit layout rights.  Notably, Madderns’ ICT team has been recognised as one of the leading teams in this field in Australia.

Our trade marks team has particular experience in conducting contested trade mark opposition proceedings and non-use cancellation actions before the Australian Trade Mark Office.

Most of our attorneys are also registered to practice in New Zealand. Our New Zealand services include filing and prosecuting patent, trade mark and design applications directly with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ). Madderns also has an in-house Asian-focus group which includes a team of Chinese speaking patent and trade mark attorneys.

Members of Madderns’ team are active members of international professional organisations, such as IPSANZ, INTA and FICPI.

Our team is your team.

Firm overview

Firm overview

Norton Rose Fulbright in Canada is unique in its ability to provide seamless IP advice on a truly national and global scale. We have one of the few IP practices with such a designation in Canada covering IP professionals in each of Québec City, Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. The integration of Bull Housser Tupper was completed on January 1, 2017 and has added a particular depth in trademark prosecution and litigation, anti-counterfeiting, and trade secrets. 

Litigation practice:
The team of IP litigators at Norton Rose Fulbright is ranked among the best in Canada. We provide offensive and defensive litigation counsel in all areas of intellectual property, including patents infringement and impeachment actions under the Patent Act and pursuant prohibition proceedings and section 8 damages actions under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance Regulations), copyrights, trade-marks, trade-mark oppositions, trade secrets, counterfeit enforcement, and industrial designs. The team is particularly well known and regarded for its patent litigation work for pharmaceutical clients. Our roster of innovative pharmaceutical clients for which we act in litigation is second to none in Canada. As pharmaceutical patent disputes represent a significant part of patent litigation in Canada, our team is extremely active in this area. The patent litigation practice also includes mechanical patents, medical devices and oil and gas patents, among other technologies. More recently, several new partners with leading practices in trademark and copyright litigation have increased our capabilities, successes and client base in this area. 

Patent practice:
Norton Rose Fulbright's Canada patent attorneys and agents have highly specialized degrees and provide comprehensive intellectual property advice and global portfolio strategy. We handle the Canadian and global patent work for a stellar cross section of Canadian and international clients. Our Canadian Patent Centre of Excellence complements notably the patent expertise within Norton Rose Fulbright in the United States.

We are one of the largest patent filers in Canada with a particular emphasis on drafting original patents and global portfolio strategy, as evidenced by the fact that we are consistently one of the top PCT filers in Canada. We are often selected over our competitors because our patent prosecution expertise is unrivalled and works seamlessly with our disputes and regulatory lawyers to provide strategic and holistic approach to patent portfolio management. 

Trademark practice: 
We assist clients with all aspects of the branding process. This includes providing overall branding strategy, the drafting and prosecuting of trade-mark applications, the provision of advice regarding availability and registrability of marks in Canada and globally. Our team provides strategic trade-mark advice including portfolio review, infringement surveillance, and advice on legal issues connected with introducing products and services to the market, such as branding, product information and advertising. We assist clients with all aspects of brands expansion into social media including acquisition of domain names, and enforcement of brands on all social media channels globally. Our litigation team acts for clients in opposition proceedings, infringement proceedings and expungement proceedings and trade libel actions. 

Copyright practice:
Our copyright team has expertise in all aspects of copyright law including clearance, acquisition and registration, infringement and litigation, due diligence, licenses, assignments and transactional issues. We act for copyright owners working in various industries such as film, television, video, music, art, fashion, literature, software and evolving media including telecommunications and the Internet. Similarly, our trade-marks team works with clients to acquire, commercialize and safeguard their brands, including logos, product or container shapes and packaging. We advise on all aspects of the selection, registration, commercialization and protection of rights related to trade-marks and brands. We are regularly called upon to advise on the copyright aspects of advertising and marketing campaigns. Clients consistently call upon our professionals for wide industry coverage, the shared experience between the team and our large panel of services. Our litigation lawyers are also active in copyright disputes at both the trial and appellate levels in the software, media, communications, and entertainment sectors with clients including film studios, software and gaming developers, telecommunications companies, the television industry and the music business. We have extensive experience representing rights holders before the Copyright Board and assisting in the enforcement of tariffs, as well as in anti-counterfeiting mandates for fashion enterprises and standards organizations, including border seizures and rapid enforcement campaigns. 

Commercial IP practice:
The IP team handles a wide range of commercial transactions relating to all areas of intellectual property. For example, our commercial IP team has assisted a major financial institution in developing key collaboration agreements, developed and negotiated licensing agreements with other financial institutions, developed blockchain consortium agreements, and very complex IP co-existence and ownership issues.

Last updated 31st July 2018