Patents are one of the strongest available methods of protecting intellectual property rights and are consequently the most commercially valuable. However, this complex area has hurdles and challenges that require specialist legal advice.
Clayton Utz' patents team is made up of patent specialists renowned for their strategic and commercial approach to solving patent law issues. Key members of our patent litigation team have tertiary qualifications in computer science, biochemistry, pharmacology, veterinary science, molecular biology or genetics. Combining our deep knowledge of the law and our non-legal background, we help clients manage, exploit and enforce their patents across all business sectors, including pharmaceutical, medical device, electrical, mining and technology patents.
Our experience ranges from small to large clients, with a particular expertise in international patent protection strategies. We understand the need for co-operation and co-ordination as part of a global approach and are experienced in maintaining a consistent global position. Our clients benefit from the co-ordination and by not reinventing the wheel we can contain their legal costs.
We advise our clients on patent portfolio management and protection strategies, including patent licences and assignments, non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, research and development agreements, patent co-ownership agreements and non-competition agreements. We also help clients with due diligence reviews when they acquire or sell patents.
If litigation is required, our clients have the backing of Australia's premier litigation practice behind them. We advise them on patent validity and infringement issues, providing analysis and opinions on freedom to operate issues, and represent them before the Australian Patents Office and courts in patent infringement and revocation (invalidity) proceedings.
We are also pioneers in crucial aspects of patent litigation, in particular the exploitation of pre-trial discovery applications in the Federal Court of Australia. As a result, patentees which might not be able to prove infringement (as the competing product has not yet been released to the market) can approach the court for an order requiring a possible infringer to give pre-trial discovery of documents to assist the patentee to decide whether the product is likely to infringe its patent.
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