Santiago R. O’Conor

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Leaders in Law endorses Santiago O’Conor as our exclusively recommended Trademark Law expert in Argentina. If you wish to get in touch with Santiago please use the contact information provided above.

Santiago R O’Conor is the managing partner of O’Conor & Power Abogados-Propiedad Industrial, a solid and reliable team of IP practitioners based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mr O’Conor specialises in all aspects of intellectual property, principally trademarks, advising domestic and foreign companies on local and international IP law, prosecution and litigation in Argentina and Latin America. He advises Forbes and Fortune 500 companies in a variety of industries, such as technology and telecommunications,software, pharmaceutical products, luxury goods, agriculture, food ,wine, and entertainment.

Mr O’Conor professional IP experience spans over 36 years and includes being an associate of the largest worldwide law office, and Partner and Head of the International Trademark practice of the most important law office in Argentina for 23 years. The expertise he has gained over this long career has made Mr O’Conor the beloved darling of many international brand owners.

Mr O’Conor is a graduate of the faculty of law of the University of Buenos Aires and an industrial property agent. He has gained postgraduate qualifications from the Fordham IP Institute in New York and at the Program of Instruction for Lawyers (PIL) at Harvard Law School.

Prolific author of many articles and publications, among others:

  • “The IP Private Practitioner”,Managing Intellectual Property magazine, mayo, 2009.
  • “La Aduana Argentina detiene la importación de productos falsificados”, International Law News – American Bar Association, 2008.
  • “Nombres genéricos para productos farmacéuticos” ITMA Bulletin, 2002.
  • “El Protocolo de Armonización en el Mercosur”, Revista Trademark World, Nº 118.
  • “Shutting down rogue websites. Argentina and Latin America Perspective, American Bar Association, 2014.
  • “TIPS for Trademark Protection in Latin America”, 2014.
  • “Aduana y Propiedad Industrial: herramienta en la lucha contra la piratería”, World Trademark Review (WTR), 2016.
  • “Plain Packaging status in Latin America: Intellectual Property Owners Association, 2016”.
  • “Free Trade Agreement between Mercosur and The European Union”, 2018.
  • “Non-traditional Marks in Latin America: the current landscape”, WTR, 2019.
  • “Fakes in Argentina: hotspots”, WTR, 2019.

Mr O’Conor is an active participant in many IP international associations, in particular INTA, the Chartered Institute of Trademark Attorneys, the European Communities Trademark Association, the Pharmaceutical Trademarks Group and the Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property, in which he served and is serving in many positions.

He is presently Judge of the Court of the Inter-American Asosociation of Intellectual Property (ASIPI), as well as President of the Legislation Committee of said organization.

Santiago is presently a member of the INTA’s Trademark Office Practice Committee (2020 – 2021).

Firm Description:

With more than 30 years of experience in the handling of IP portfolios for domestic and international clients in Argentina and Latin America, our lawyers, industrial property agents and select network of engineers and technical professionals, bring together their broad backgrounds and experiences in different disciplines and industries to work closely as a team representing international, regional and local companies in trademarks, patents, utility models, designs, copyright, software, domain names, transfer of technology, franchising, licensing and related matters.Wholly responsive to clients needs based on the firms large local and international IP experience and expertise, in order to satisfy the IP community requirements in a new scenario of a globalized world following the premises of reliability, quality, efficient action, adaptability to price tailoring and flexibility, with equal emphasis in customized and personalized services.

The firm handles clients of different areas: food, winery, technology and telecommunications, pharmaceutical, entertainment, clothing and textile; among others.

The broad experience of O’Conor & Power’s team in the management of local and international IP portfolios in Argentina and in the region, makes O’C & P a superior «one stop resource», as Latin American increasingly factors into the world economy.

We are also qualified to protect and enforce clients IP interests through transactions, dispute resolutions, litigation, border enforcement measures and unfair competition related actions.Our professionals and staff regularly participate in seminars and conferences nationally and internationally, thus keeping updated on the latest IP legal developments in Argentina, Latin America and throughout the world.

 

Steven Weigler

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Leaders in Law endorses Steven Weigler as our exclusively recommended Trademark Law Expert in Colorado, USA. If you wish to get in touch with Steven, please use the contact information provided above.

Steven Weigler is the founder and managing partner of EmergeCounsel, LLC which represents and supports new, emerging and entrepreneurial businesses.

After years of experience as corporate counsel for a Fortune 100 company, Steven built and managed an educational technology startup where I was able to license intellectual property from a major research university, create and institute a protective intellectual property strategy, commercialize the resulting products and protect the intellectual property, build and manage a sales, marketing and operations team under a “lean startup” budget, and secure both angel and A round financing and finally negotiated an exit.

Steven’s combination of legal, entrepreneurial, governmental and corporate experience gives him a unique, focused perspective on what entrepreneurs who are starting up or emerging their businesses need but rarely have: a) someone who: zealously protects their interest and b) someone who has the empathy to understand each entrepreneur’s vision and motivation as well as their business plan. Steven can thus co-create and execute a legal plan to protect capital, company and intellectual property interests so you can succeed. Steven also involved in some other entrepreneurial endeavors.

He also likes to kickbox, ski and listen to live music.

Practice Areas

Firm Description:

EmergeCounsel strategizes with a worldwide clientele in the focus areas of protection of intellectual property and business assets. Our TotalTM® and eCommerce services provide trademark guidance, search, appeals of office actions and denials, and trademark monitoring and enforcement at flat, affordable rates. In addition, EmergeCounsel has an extensive network of professionals who provide co-counsel and services in taxation, patents, accounting, marketing, copywriting, financing, and more.

Your brand is your most critical business asset. Trademark registration is the best way to protect your brand. EmergeCounsel makes it easy to protect your brand through the proven TotalTM® process.

 

Lu-Fa Tsai

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Current position: Partner

Practice area/industry focus: Intellectual property rights, international investment, general laws

Career highlights: 

Mr. Lu-Fa Tsai, an attorney-at-law graduated from the Department of Law of National Taiwan University (NTU), which is the best law school in Taiwan. Out of the interest in business law, he attended the Graduate Institute of Law of NTU after he had obtained the LL.B. degree and received his LL.M. degree after 3 years. One year before he graduated from the graduate institute, he passed the bar examination. Mr. Tsai has also gained an LL.M. degree from the Faculty of Law of the University of Göttingen in Germany. The field of study of this degree is international economic law. After he came back from Germany, he joined the Deep & Far Attorneys-at-Law. He is working as a partner lawyer at the firm currently.

Publications:

  1. Tsai, Lu-Fa (2018). Trade Marks 2018, Chamber and Partners, https://practiceguides.chambersandpartners.com/practice-guides/trade-marks-2018/taiwan;
  2. Tsai, Lu-Fa; Tsai, Yu-Li; Tsai, C.F. (2018). Copyright 2018, Chamber and Partners, https://practiceguides.chambersandpartners.com/practice-guides/copyright-2018/taiwan;
  3. Tsai, Yu-Li; Tsai, Lu-Fa (2018). Copyright 2018, The International Comparative Legal Guide, https://iclg.com/practice-areas/copyright-laws-and-regulations/taiwan#;
  4. Tsai, Yu-Li; Tsai, Lu-Fa (2018). Pharmaceutical Advertising 2018, The International Comparative Legal Guide, https://iclg.com/practice-areas/pharmaceutical-advertising-laws-and-regulations/taiwan;
  5. Tsai, Yu-Li & Tsai, Lu-Fa (2014). A practical cross-border insight into copyright law, Chapter 20 Taiwan. The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Copyright 2015 Edition, 1, 111-116.

S M Zillur Rahman

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Rahman IP Solutions is an Intellectual Property (IP) law firm in Bangladesh committed to provide all of its clients, associates the best service in a cost effective manner. It has been providing Intellectual Property related legal services in Bangladesh and abroad for its valued clients and associates with all its expertise and competence.

Now-a-days Intellectual property is a great concern throughout the world and being a part of the globalised society Bangladesh is also emphasizing to develop the awareness and trying with the best effort to cope with the global trend. The consciousness for the protection of Intellectual Property (IP) and its importance are gradually developing in the business community and IP is being considered more significantly day by day. The regularity authority of the IP in Bangladesh (Department of Patents, Designs and Trademarks and Copyright office) has been playing a precious role in protecting the well known trademarks in Bangladesh. They have taken a bunch of initiatives to improve the existing system of filing application, registration, maintenance, keeping records, automation etc. The IP issue has got further significance in Bangladesh with the provision of the latest Import Policy Order (2012-15) that for all the branded importing goods the IP registration certificates of the concerned countries have to be submitted to the Customs Authority for clearance.

In the emergence of such a situation Rahman IP Solutions is promised to take the privilege to provide the benefits to the inventors, clients, associates by helping them in the process of taking protection of their Intellectual Property rights in Bangladesh and abroad as well. Because “We believe IP really matters.”

It is our motivation to follow the business ethics and provide the sincere and best services to the valued clients and associates. We believe and it is our confidence that we can meet our commitment for the utmost satisfaction of our esteemed clients and associates. We strongly believe that service comes first and the reward is the logical consequence.

Dr. Volker Knies

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Leaders in Law endorses Dr. Volker Knies as our exclusively recommended Trademark Law expert in Germany. If you wish to get in touch with Dr. Knies please use the contact information provided above.

Dr. Volker Knies is a founding partner of NESSELHAUF Rechtsanwälte. He is specialized in trademark law, unfair competition law, copyright law, design law, patent law and license agreements. He manages the trademark portfolios of a number of domestic and international advises in cases of intellectual property infringement.

Dr. Volker Knies is a member of the German Association for Intellectual Property and Copyright Law (GRUR Deutsche Vereinigung für gewerblichen Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht) and INTA (International Trademark Association). He is recommended by “LeadersinLaw” as a lawyer for trademark law in Germany and was awarded “AI Global” in 2017 as “Leading Intellectual Property Practitioner of the Year – Germany”.

The by Dr. Volker Knies managed trademark department has been elected as “Trademark Law Firm of the Year in Germany” by “Corporate INTL” in 2015 and 2017 and has been awarded as “Practitioner of the Year for Intellectual Property in Germany 2016 (Acquisition International Awards 2016). As part of his education Dr. Volker Knies has worked at a law firm in Sydney, Australia.

Firm Overview:

NESSELHAUF Rechtsanwälte advise enterprises and individuals in all areas of media and press law, intellectual property, information technology and related branches of practice.

 

Rodger Outten

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Rodger Outten is the Founding Principal and IP Chair of OuttenIP’s Trade Mark Practice. Rodger serves as lead counsel in the firm’s Copyright, Trade Mark and Patent Litigation Practices she has knowledgeable experience in intellectual property matters and provides strategic counsel to both domestic and international clients. Rodger has expertise in the strategic implementation of intellectual property protections, brand management and enforcement procedures.

Rodger advises clients on a spectrum of intellectual property issues including strategic protection, transfer, commercialization and enforcement of intellectual property related rights.  She has significant transactional expertise including advising clients on acquisitions and mergers, negotiating intellectual property related contracts and advising on all aspects of franchising matters.  She also has formidable experience in the arenas of providing assurance and business advisory services to Fortune 500 Companies and her audit and risk management experience serves to fortify her astute disciplines in due diligence and structured financing ventures.

Bar Admissions:

  • The Bar of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas
  • The Bar of England & Wales

Education:

  • B.A. (The College of Saint Benedict), St. Joseph, MN, USA.
  • LL.B (Hons.) (University of Buckingham), Buckingham, England.
  • College of Law, London, England, UK.

Memberships:

  • The Bahamas Bar Association
  • The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Bahamas Branch (CIArb)
  • The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
  • The International Bar Association (IBA)
  • The Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (ITMA)

Professional and Community Development

  • Performs pro bono work for select artists and artisans.

Languages:

  • English
  • French
  • Spanish (Intermediate)

Firm Description:

At OuttenIP Counsel & Attorneys-at-Law, we are our namesake, intellectual property law is not just an area of practice, it is our focal practice; and we are innovatively passionate about what we do. As a leading provider of intellectual property services in The Bahamas, we have counseled numerous international and local clientele on an array of intellectual property protections.

We are a boutique intellectual property law firm with sound expertise.  With an undeterred dedication to legal excellence and a strategic approach to advancing our clients’ goals; we have set the standard for intellectual property expertise and technical execution and we have become one of the top intellectual property law firms in the region.  Working with a diverse group of client structures ranging from individual inventors, to SME’s and ultimately conglomerates, our specialists provide guidance on the effective use of intellectual property rights and thereby furnish our clients’ inventions, brands and technologies with the best protections and strategies available.

We have defined ourselves by our clients’ success and positioned ourselves to expertly handle cutting edge issues effecting intellectual property right holders. We have diverse expertise in numerous aspects of intellectual property rights including, but not limited to, copyrights, domain names, industrial designs, patents and trade marks.  At OuttenIP, you’ll find customized intellectual property legal solutions tailored to your every creative endeavor.

 

Christian Zierhut

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Leaders in Law endorses Christian Zierhut as our exclusively recommended Brand Protection Law and Trademark Law expert in Germany. If you wish to get in touch with Christian, please use the contact information provided above.

Christian is an IP attorney with over 14 years of experience advising clients on intellectual property issues. Christian is recognised as a Trademark Lawyer & Brand Protection Expert providing a full trademark, design right, copyright and patent advisory services to a broad range of businesses globally.

Christian has a diverse intellectual property practice focused on trade mark prosecution and trademark right infringement litigation, with special emphasis on clients in the fashion, sport and entertainment and car parts sectors. He is also an expert in complex unfair competition and copyright matters.

Not only fashion and luxury brands trust his services: Also professional sportsmen and sport agencies trust his advice in trademark and copyright matters.  Christian did for example the contract drafting in connection with several world champion boxing fighters for their sponsors and TV broadcast events. He won several crucial trials for my clients amongst others a trademark infringement case for Germany’s Number 1 luxus & lifestyle magazine publisher against Axel Springer (Europe’s leading digital publisher).

PRACTICE AREAS:

Christian advises his clients on global anti-counterfeiting strategies, parallel import, including national and European-wide customs filings as well as related cross-border litigation. He acts for several billion dollar fashion labels for many years in relation to all its counterfeit and IP matters.

CLIENTS:

Christian’s clients includes media companies, athlets, race drivers, fashion designers and apparel companies; He consults his clients in all questions concerning trade marks, including the development of trade mark strategies, the supervision and administration of trade mark portfolios, the drafting and negotiation of licence agreements and the extrajudicial and judicial enforcement of trade mark rights. He acted for many years on behalf of Christian Audigier’s worldwide clothing and merchandise company, including all its European trade mark and licence matters. Clients like Valentino Rossi, Techart Porsche, among others the fashion brand Earnest Sewn and the World Boxing Association rely on me – for over 10 years now.

 

Ron Wheeldon

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Leaders in Law endorses Ron Wheeldon as our exclusively recommended Trademark Law expert in South Africa. If you wish to get in touch with Ron, please use the contact information provided above.

Ron Wheeldon Attorneys is a boutique law firm concentrating on trade mark and copyright law and situated in Johannesburg’s Bohemian Greenside hub. We believe in being hands on, approachable and affordable while bringing the very best expertise to bear on brand and trade mark issues important to businesses. We enjoy what we do and we enjoy people. As Ron is a pilot, air show performer and fan of warbird aircraft, we have been asked over and again to help with aviation law issues and have built up considerable expertise in these over the last 10 years.

Practice Areas

Your organization’s tradename or brand is a calling card, an advertisement, and, ideally, one way in which the public always will remember you. However, if business owners and organization leaders don’t do some research before selecting a name or brand, that may spawn legal issues stemming from trade mark infringement

I have often been struck in practice by the prevalence of the notion, held by many traders, accountants and even attorneys that, if they, or one of their clients, wish to place a name on a product, or conduct a service business under a name, all they need to do is apply for a company name and, if it is granted by the Companies Office, they then proceed to use it, often in direct conflict with registered trade mark rights or common law rights of reputation. What many people fail to appreciate is that the granting of a company or close corporation name does not imply that the Registrar of Companies has checked the trade mark register, or any register at all other than his own and, while the right conferred is to use the name as the name of the corporation, no right is conferred to use the name as a trade mark.

  • Trade Mark Searches – Trade mark searches are the first step to making sure your trade mark application is successful and the money that you invest into your brand’s creation is not wasted.
  • Trade Mark Registration – You can use your proposed trade mark without registering, but if you do, you’re leaving your brand, reputation, goodwill, and business vulnerable. That’s why registering your trade mark should be one of the first things you do.
  • Trade Mark Clearance – This is the first step to making sure your trade mark application is successful. If your chosen mark already exists (or there is one very similar to it), your application will be rejected. However, working with our staff during this vital stage of the process will ensure your chosen trade mark is unique.
  • Trade Mark Assignments – A trade mark assignment is a common occurrence when a business is sold, or a group of companies undergoes a reorganisation. When assigned the rights, title, and interest in the trade mark is transferred to the new legal owner, either in its entirety or partially.
  • Trade Mark Enforcement – The first step to ensuring the strength of your trade mark is to make sure it is registered correctly for the products or services in which you trade. Once this is done, you can take action against others for trade mark infringement. The second is to be vigilant. The act of registration doesn’t stop conflicting applications. It’s down to you to prevent the use and registration of any trade marks which are the same or similar to your own.
  • Domain Name Acquisition – Your online marketplace is massively competitive, so having a domain name that gives your brand a tactical advantage is worth its weight in gold. Domain name acquisition is rarely as easy as it seems, and in our increasingly digital world it is absolutely crucial you get the best possible domain name.

Case Experience

Well we recently saw our first major court appearance this year, when Ron and advocate Bert Bester, SC had to go to Durban to defend our client Salomon and its local distributor from an effort to punish it for seizing counterfeit shoes some time ago which upset the importer of those counterfeits. We were delighted to find that the court agreed with our arguments and not only struck the matter from the roll but also awarded our clients costs on the attorney and client scale. Thanks to Bert for his meticulous preparation and to our opponents for fighting their corner as hard as they could but remaining civilised with it.

 

Isabelle Deshaies

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The in-depth expertise of Isabelle Deshaies is the fruit of 31 years of experience and continuing professional training, including 10 years of practice in major intellectual property firms and private companies of Montreal.

As founder of ID® TRADEMARK, Ms. Deshaies also benefits from more than 20 years’ experience as an entrepreneur and understands her clients’ business issues.  She serves every range of companies, from start-ups to international, in all industries including food, baby products, clothing, furniture and restaurant.  She manages the international trademark portfolio of Canadian leading companies in the mining and software industries, as well as the Canadian trademark portfolio of internationally known companies in the gas and steel industries.

Ms. Deshaies further assists her clients in ancillary issues such as licences, trademark use, border protection, domain name registration strategies and litigation.  Her judicious advice and know-how is also appreciated by attorneys and other trademark agents who regularly call upon her. It is immediately obvious that she is a true master in her field.

Ms. Deshaies has further developed an in-depth expertise and know-how in worldwide trademark registration proceedings and portfolio management.  Apart from being a Canadian registered trademark agent, she is one of the rare Canadian agent representing non-Canadian trademark owners at WIPO, while Canada is not yet a member of the Madrid System.  Her expertise also includes industrial design and copyright registrations.

Ms. Deshaies has been appointed as trademark consultant for the members of a Chamber of commerce of Montreal, regularly writes articles, gives lectures, trains paralegals and has been an instructor for trademark agent trainees with the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC).

As a member of working groups at IPIC, she has contributed to the drafting of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy during the year 2000.  She has been writing a trademark newsletter reporting all Canadian case law and news for 7 years.

Toll Free: +1 (844) 454-5300

Linda Chang

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Linda is based in Shanghai and manages our operations in China. As an English language and law graduate, Linda began her professional career as a trade mark agent in 1994. In 1995, she was one of the first trade mark agents to qualify under China’s emerging IP regulatory system. She joined Rouse in 1999 to establish one of the first licensed privately-owned trade mark agencies in China. She has been a partner of Rouse since 2004.

Linda has handled trade mark cases of all types, and has a reputation for the aggressive interpretation of both regulation and practice. Among her wins, she counts registering the ‘Burberry check’; GlaxoSmithKline’s well-known ‘S-bend’ toothbrush shape (one of China’s first three-dimensional trade marks); and Johnnie Walker’s 3D bottle shape; and securing ‘well-known’ trade mark status for JAGUAR (cars), DOVE (chocolate), Zwilling (cutlery), Castrol (lubricant) and Mr. Muscle (a household cleaning product).

Another milestone case was the ‘Thermo & logo’ case, in which the Trade Mark Review & Adjudication Board’s expedited procedure was used to cancel a wrongful registration within four months (the usual time being three to four years), enabling the client to win a civil action against the registrant.

Linda is also experienced in the resolution of domain name disputes and has acted as a UDRP panellist since 2006. She is an active member of the International Trademark Association (INTA) and publishes widely on trade mark and related issues.

Rouse Law Firm:

Our trade mark professionals work together as one integrated team, so no matter where you are, or where you need trade mark support we can put together the right team with the right local experience and appropriate industry knowledge for your needs. The vast majority of our trade mark professionals have both in-house and private practice experience, which we see as a major advantage.

Unlike most trade mark attorney practices, we work in client teams, each one made up of a senior attorney who oversees your work, as well as a managing attorney and a paralegal. This team looks after all aspects of your portfolio including renewals and assignments. Whether you’re an SME or a multinational, there will always be three people fully aware of your matters: everything that is done will be done by someone with an understanding of you and your requirements.

We provide a full range of IP services from registration and management to enforcement and commercialisation for a range of clients from start ups to some of the world’s largest owners of IP rights. Whatever your IP needs, we can help with experts in 16 offices across the globe working as one integrated team.