South Africa

IP STARS Reviews

Spoor & Fisher

Spoor & Fisher is a leading law firm for IP in South Africa. The firm is Managing IP's Africa Firm of the Year (2021). The firm maintains three offices in South Africa and serves IP owners in other African countries through its Jersey office, which is headed by Wayne Meiring. It has representative offices in a number of African countries including Cameroon, Gambia and Malawi. Patent attorney and IP litigator Jonathan Whittaker and patent attorney Lodewyk Cilliers lead the firm's executive committee.

The firm's trade mark practice is led by Marco van der Merwe while Mohamed Khader leads the anti-counterfeiting practice. They are supported by Eben van Wyk. Other notable senior soft IP practitioners in the firm include John Foster, Herman Blignaut, Charles Webster, Louise Myburgh, Jean McIvor, and Megan Reimers. The junior trade mark partners to watch are Zama Buthelezi and Reinard Kruger. 

The firm's patent expertise covers technical fields such as pharmaceutical, biotechnology, engineering and electronics. The notable practitioners in the patent department include Tyron Grant, Hugh Moubray, David Cochrane, Lance Abramson and Dina Biagio. Cochrane is one of the best South African IP practitioners to consult on plant breeders' rights. Whittaker and Moubray are widely respected in patent disputes while Biagio is the key contact for IP-related transactions. Chyreene Truluck is a notable junior patent partner in the firm.