Overview
We offer specific scientific expertise together with our vast experience in creating, commercialising and enforcing intellectual property rights in this field. Our clients include research organisations, start-up companies, private and publicly listed companies in Australia and overseas.
We can bring a high-level of expertise to your life sciences ventures through:
- our understanding of the environment in which life sciences businesses operate
- our involvement in spin-offs and the structuring of investment in them
- our expertise in dealing with all legal, structural and financing aspects of start-up and early stage technology companies, and nurturing them through their evolutionary stages
- our ability to offer you a suite of value-added and innovative technology driven services unmatched by any of our competitors
- our appreciation that our clients expect value for money.
Freehills Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys, is leading Australian patent attorney firm and has assisted numerous organisations to grow, manage and exploit their intellectual property portfolios in the chemical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, agricultural and healthcare sectors in Australia and internationally.
Freehills has leading expertise in enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights, IP commercial transactions, and private equity. Where other commercial issues, such as taxation, listing requirements etc, arise, we have the ability to draw on the required expertise from other areas of Freehills.
Experience
Intellectual property / contracts and licensing
Our experience in the life sciences field include:
- representing numerous national and international pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare companies and research organisations in patent, trade mark and design registration matters
- enforcing intellectual property rights and dispute resolution
- representing national and international pharmaceutical companies and research organisations in patent, trade mark and trade practices litigation
- representing national and international pharmaceutical companies and research organisations in patent opposition matters
- preparing and advising on research and development (R&D) agreements, strategic alliance documentation, product development agreements, IP acquisition agreements, technology licenses (in and out), confidentiality agreements, distribution agreements, product marketing agreements and joint ventures
- advising on confidential information, data exclusivity issues and the impact of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) on R&D based companies
- advising on all aspects of the CRCs, including licensing in and out, withdrawal from the CRC, winding up of the CRC, ownership of intellectual property, procedures to be adopted at meetings of CRC constituent bodies
- preparing PBS applications, including negotiating strategies with the committee and where appropriate we also advise on the relevant appeal process
- advising on risk management relating to product liability issues and trade practices issues
- conducting intellectual property audits, including due diligence investigations and reviewing processes in relation to the creation and, exploitation and protection of intellectual property rights (intellectual asset management)
- advising on regulatory issues.
Commercial law / statutory and corporate compliance matters
Our corporate and commercial lawyers have extensive experience in commercial transactions, including venture capital, technology company structures, business purchases, joint ventures, franchising, capital raisings and Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listings.
Our team's capital raising and corporate law experience includes:
- acting on a wide range of initial public offerings (IPOs)
- acting for biotechnology organisations involved in a range of large and complex technology transactions. This includes acting for some of Australia's most prominent research organisations and private sector corporations involved in biotechnology
- acting for prominent commercialisation vehicles
- structuring, documenting and implementing a significant number of Australia's largest syndicated research and development transactions (acting for both researchers and investors), utilising the 150 per cent tax deduction for eligible research and development
- advising on CRC structures
- starting up, financing, re-financing, restructuring, listing and selling biotechnology companies
- advising on other commercialisation structures, including pooled development funds, innovation investment funds and the variously available government grants.
Working with you
The Freehills intellectual property practice is comprised of a full service patent and trade mark practice in addition to specialist lawyers in IP commercialisation and IP litigation. The depth and breadth of the patent and trade mark practice is unlike that provided by any other commercial law firm in Australia.
We provide a full service offering, calling on the skill and expertise of the IP group’s 15 partners and approximately 60 solicitors and patent and trade mark attorneys practicing exclusively in the IP area.
We have a dedicated team of attorneys, lawyers and support staff that are highly trained, not only to excel in the delivery of legal services, but also to be passionate about understanding the application of the law to the real world commercial context of our clients’ businesses. Our team prides itself on its responsiveness, commerciality and thought leadership.
We are passionate about the work we do. Our objective is to deliver an outstanding result for your client that leads to an ongoing relationship
