New Zealand > Intellectual property
Index of tables
Intellectual property
Other recommended firms
Leading individuals
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- John Glengarry Buddle Findlay
- Earl Gray Simpson Grierson
- John Hackett A J Park
- Matt Sumpter Chapman Tripp
- Sheana Wheeldon Kensington Swan
- Christopher Young Minter Ellison Rudd Watts
A J Park ‘stands out for size and quality’, handling the full spectrum of contentious and non-contentious matters, including commercialisation and brand protection work. It acts for over a third of New Zealand’s top 100 companies and almost half of the Fortune 500, with recent work including trade mark cases for Farmers Trading Co and CocaCola. It also has a significant client base developing in Australia.
Simpson Grierson provides ‘very high levels of service, from response times to recommendations’, and ‘outstanding’ practice head Earl Gray has ‘great commercial acumen and an innovative approach’. The firm acts for an extensive, mostly multinational client base that includes Google, Sony Music and Novartis, and recently won Procter & Gamble’s brand protection work.
Bell Gully sees a good flow of IP work from its corporate/commercial practice, ranging from registration to disputes. Service levels are ‘excellent’, and advice is in ‘plain English and commercial’. The team is acting for PepsiCo, and recently advised on significant transactions for Yellow Pages Group and Reckitt Benckiser.
Buddle Findlay advises big-name clients including Colgate-Palmolive, Yahoo!, British American Tobacco and the World Wide Fund for Nature on brand protection strategy. It regularly handles contentious matters, recently acting for the Active Manuka Honey Association in a passing off action, and the Muir Electrical Company. It has an excellent record in domain name disputes.
Chapman Tripp has one of the best-established IP teams among New Zealand’s full-service law firms. Its breadth of expertise is reflected in its work for significant investors and IP owners, particularly in pharmaceuticals (Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck); telecoms and media (Telecom, ACP Media, and PBL); primary production (Fonterra); and energy (Genesis, Mighty River Power, and Vector).
The team at Kensington Swan has a ‘can-do’ attitude, and is ‘excellent, prompt and efficient’. Sheana Wheeldon is ‘very knowledgeable, commercially savvy, practical and always available’. Special counsel Jenni Rutter, previously a partner in the London office of Baker & McKenzie LLP, is a significant senior addition to the team.
Minter Ellison Rudd Watts demonstrates a ‘real interest and willingness to engage in and understand the client’s industry’. Recent work includes acting for Icebreaker Limited on strategy and management matters, and advising the De Beers Group. Christopher Young has ‘excellent technical expertise and commercial judgement’.