Stephen's Expertise

• Global Regulatory
  • International Trade, Treaties and Agreements
• Intellectual Property
  • Confidential Information
  • Copyright & Designs
  • Geographical Indications
  • Misleading Conduct & Passing Off
  • Patents
  • Trade Marks

• Pfizer & Viagra Stephen led the Australian team acting on behalf of Pfizer Inc. in major Federal Court of Australia and High Court of New Zealand patent infringement actions against Eli Lilly & Company, Bayer AG and GlaxoSmithKline plc defending Pfizer’s rights in relation to its Viagra® product (relating to patents for the use of phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors for the treatment of erectile dysfunction).
• Coonawarra Acted for Foster’s wine group in extending the boundaries of the Coonawarra wine region to include the Robertson’s Well vineyards. The matter involved an appeal from a decision of the Geographical Indications Committee to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and two further appeals to the Full Federal Court. Stephen played a leading role in co-ordinating with a small group of lawyers the claims made by 45 vignerons.
• Caterpillar & John Deere Stephen acted on behalf of Caterpillar Inc. in significant Federal Court of Australia patent infringement action against John Deere relating to the undercarriage for a friction-drive agricultural tractor.
• Assisted in strengthening Australia’s anti-counterfeiting laws Led making of submissions by IACC to the Australian Federal Government Advisory Council on IP in relation to strengthening Australia’s anti-counterfeiting laws.
• Advises globally-recognised brands Clients include Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Ferrari, Hugo Boss, Nike, Lacoste, Gucci, Christian Dior, Versace, Oakley, Moët & Chandon, Caterpillar, Ermenegildo Zegna, Fendi, Foster’s, Liz Claiborne, Prada, Quiksilver, Tommy Hilfiger, Vans, Brother, RIM (BlackBerry).
• Protection of “BlackBerry” brand for Research In Motion (RIM) Acted to defend and protect RIM’s leading and valuable brand BlackBerry in a large contested passing off/trade mark infringement case against Samsung.
• Trade mark application for Cadbury’s “purple colour” Acted for Cadbury in this case that involved leading edge trade mark law issues. An opposition proceeding was appealed in the Federal Court with Australian retailer, Darrell Lea. The matter was completed with Cadbury gaining five interlocking registrations for the colour purple.
• Protection of British American Tobacco’s IP rights Acting for British American Tobacco as part of an international team to protect their IP rights against the encroachments likely to occur as a result of the planned generic labelling legislation. The legislation is the first of its kind internationally and has enormous potential ramifications across a broad range of industries.
• Acts for the French Government INAO and Interprofessional Organisations Stephen Acts for the INAO and numerous interprofessional organisations, such as the CIVC of Champagne, the BNIC of Cognac, the CIVB of Bordeaux and the BIVB of Burgundy for almost 25 years in protecting French wine (and other agricultural) controlled appellations of origin against misuse. Stephen coordinates for several of these organisations protection across the Asia-Pacific region.
• Geographical IP protection of “Rothbury” brand for Foster’s Group Ltd Advised in the protection of Foster’s brands against third parties that would like to adopt those brands as geographical indications. This includes the litigation over the “Rothbury” trade mark, which was the first (and so far the only) case in Australia under the relatively new legislation dealing with the overlap between geographical indications and trade marks.