PATENT LEADERS
SOUTH AFRICA
Nishi Chetty
Position: Partner/ Trademark Attorney
Law firm: Adams &Adams
Phone: +27 31 536 3740
Email: nishi.chetty@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Nishi Chetty is a partner at Adams & Adams since 2005. She qualified as a trademark practitioner in 2002 and was the first person of colour to qualify as a trademark practitioner in South Africa.
From 2006 to 2013 Chetty sat on the firm’s Management Committee as branch office chairperson.
She has also been a finalist for various awards including Oliver Empowerment Awards (Impumelelo) 2012–Top Black Business Leader of the Year, Top Woman Awards 2012–Top Woman Executive; African Access National Business Awards 2012–Top Performing Businesswoman of the Year and Business Woman Association (BWA)–2012 –Regional Business Achiever Awards, Professional Category.
She has represented a number of top 100 South African companies and US Fortune 500 companies.
Samantha Copeling
Position: Partner / Trademark Attorney
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6323
Email: samantha.copeling@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Samantha Copeling is a partner in Adams & Adams’ trademark department. She practises in the trademark prosecution department and specialises in clearance searches, all aspects of trademark registration and portfolio management.
She advises clients from a wide range of industries. The focus of her work is in South Africa and all African countries.
She is a fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property and is a member of the South African Trademark Law Committee, INTA and PTMG.
Gérard du Plessis
Position: Partner / Firm Chairman
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6301
Email: gerard.duplessis@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Gérard du Plessis is a senior partner in the trademark litigation department of Adams & Adams. He has served as chairman of the firm from 2013 to 2021 and has recently stepped down from this position.
Prior to that he served for a number of years as Trade Mark Department co-chairman (litigation). He specialises in litigation relating to trademarks, copyright, unlawful competition, domain names and advertising law.
He is responsible for the trademark portfolios of many multinationals and South African companies in Africa and throughout the world.
Mariëtte du Plessis
Position: Partner
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6378
Email: mariette.duplessis@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Mariëtte du Plessis is a senior partner in the trademark litigation section of the trademarks department.
She has been a partner in the firm of Adams & Adams since 1997 and is an experienced top-tier ranked IP attorney with over 30 years of experience in IP.
Du Plessis specialises in all trademark, copyright, advertising law and domain name related disputes throughout Africa, as well as regulatory advice.
She represents high profile South African and international clients in their trademark and copyright matters throughout Africa.
She is the client relations partner for many of the firm’s top local and international clients.
Name: Russell Bagnall Position: Partner / Patent Attorney Law firm: Adams & Adams
Name: Deon Bouwer Position: Director Law firm: Bouwers
Name: Stuart Gardiner Position: Special Counsel Law firm: Swart Attorneys
Name: Rowan Joseph Position: Patent Litigator Law firm: Von Seidels
Name: Nicola Scheepers Position: Principal / Lawyer Law firm: Griffith Hack
Nolwazi Gcaba
Position: Partner / Trademark Attorney
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6439
Email: nolwazi.gcaba@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Nolwazi Gcaba has over 20 years’ post qualification experience in the field of trademark law. She has in the past focused in trademarks and copyright litigation including passing-off and unlawful competition.
She advised clients from divergent industries from fashion and luxury goods, hospitality, fast-moving consumer goods, sports, and automotive, to name a few. Currently, she heads the firm’s trademark renewals section.
Gcaba has occupied leadership positions in legal practice and in business. She held a chairmanship position in an IP law firm.
For a period of eight years, she was a non-executive director of Transnet SOC Limited, a logistics South African state-owned company.
Nolo Khechane
Position: Partner / Trademark Attorney
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6342
Email: nolo.khechane@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Nolo Khechane is a partner in the prosecution section of the trademarks department. He was admitted as an attorney in 2003. He joined the firm and became a partner in 2005.
He specialises in availability searches, the filing and prosecution of applications worldwide, with a particular emphasis on Africa. He is also the relationship partner and involved in portfolio management for a number of high profile local and international clients.
Key clients include NBCUniversal, Jack Daniel’s, Brown Forman, DreamWorks, Puma Energy SA, FirstRand, and First National Bank.
He is a member of the Legal Practice Council, a fellow at the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL), and regularly attends the INTA conferences.
Hugh Moubray
Position: Partner
Law firm: Spoor & Fisher
Phone: +27 12 676 1001
Email: h.moubray@spoor.com
Website: www.spoor.com/en/home
Hugh Moubray is a Patent Attorney and head of the patent litigation department at Spoor & Fisher. He has a BSc (Mech Eng) and BProc, and is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
With over three decades of experience, Moubray specialises in patent, design, technical copyright and unlawful competition litigation.
He has extensive litigation experience in a broad spectrum of sectors including the mechanical, mining, metallurgical, electrical, chemical and pharmaceutical fields.
He is a fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law and a member of the Legal Practice Council and has been recognised for his work in many publications including Chambers Global and IAM’s Global Leaders 2021.
He is a moderator in practical legal problems for the Patent Examination Board.
Darren Olivier
Position: Partner / Attorney
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 11 895 1011
Email: darren.olivier@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Darren Olivier is an experienced IP advisor with over 20 years’ experience gained in local and international law firms as well as in-house.
He is chair of the firm’s IP commercialisation team and a former partner of international firm FieldFisher LLP in London. He is especially interested in IP management (primarily brands), prosecution, commercialisation and enforcement in Africa but worked for a decade in London, focusing on Europe.
He is lead counsel for the BSA The Software Alliance in South Africa and an editorial board member of Oxford University Press: Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice. He is ditor and founder of the Afro-IP weblog.
He is a former trustee of the CEO SleepOut Trust, and the first African to be recognised in IAM’s “Guide to the World’s leading IP Strategists”.
Name: Gaelyn Scott Position: Head of Intellectual Property Department Law firm: ENSafrica
Name: Erik van der Vyver Position: Founding Partner / Patent Attorney Law firm: Von Seidels
Name: Ralph van Niekerk Position: Patent Attorney Law firm: Von Seidels
Name: At van Rooy Position: Director Law firm: Kisch IP
Name: Ron Wheeldon Position: Founder Law firm: Ron Wheeldon Attorneys
Name: Brian Wimpey Position: Trademark Attorney Law firm: Bredenkamp Intellectual Property Attorneys
Jenny Pienaar
Position: Partner
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6396
Email: jenny.pienaar@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Jenny Pienaar is a partner in the Adams & Adams trademark department. Her areas of practice include trademark litigation, domain name registration and securing domains from unlawful proprietors, as well as litigation relating to copyright, passing-off, unlawful competition, company name objections and related issues.
Her expertise incorporates advertising law and regulatory compliance issues.
Her areas of practice include all aspects of trademark litigation, including oppositions to the registration of trademarks in South Africa and throughout Africa.
Nishan Singh
Position: Partner / Trademark Attorney
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6151
Email: nishan.singh@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Nishan Singh is a qualified attorney and trademark practitioner, who has been a partner of the firm since March 2012. He advises some of the world’s top multinational organisations on the protection and enforcement of their brands and related intellectual property in Africa.
Singh has extensive experience with litigation proceedings relating to intellectual property in the High Court, the Tribunal of the Registrar of trademarks, the Companies Tribunal and domain name dispute resolution providers, such as WIPO.
Kelly Thompson
Position: Firm Chairperson
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6298
Email: kelly.thompson@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Kelly Thompson has recently been appointed the Chairperson of Adams & Adams. Prior to this she also served as Chairperson of the trade mark litigation department of the firm.
Thompson is an experienced, top-tier ranked attorney and trademark practitioner. She advises some of the world’s top multinational organisations on the protection and enforcement of their brands and other intellectual property in Africa. She also specialises in advertising law and disputes.
She graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with a Bachelor of Arts in 1996, and acquired her LLB in 1998 from the same institution. Thompson is a member of the Legal Practice Council, and a fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL). She has contributed to numerous publications on various aspects of trademark law.
