TRADEMARK LEADERS
SOUTH AFRICA
Simon Brown
Position: Partner / Trademark Attorney
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6315
Email: simon.brown@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Simon Brown is a senior partner of the firm and has served as co-chairperson of the trademark prosecution section for a number of years. He has recently stepped down from this position.
His practice focuses largely on clearance investigations, filing and prosecution of trademark cases and trademark portfolio management throughout Africa and internationally.
As well as being a lecturer in International trademark law for the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law, Brown is actively involved in a number of committees for both SAIIPL and the International Trade Mark Association.
He is responsible for the development of the firms’ Africa practice and chairs the Africa Strategy Committee as well as the Africa IP Committee.
Brown is a contributing author to the Adams & Adams “Practical Guide to IP in Africa”, as well as the Lexis Nexis publication “Practitioner’s Guide to Intellectual Property Law”.
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 the year 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.
David Cochrane
Position: Partner
Law firm: Spoor & Fisher
Phone: +27 12 676 1001
Email: d.cochrane@spoor.com
Website: www.spoor.com/en/home
David Cochrane, Patent Attorney, has a BSc (Chem) and an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand. He is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
He has over two decades of experience in domestic and international patent matters, including the preparation and prosecution of patent applications. An expert patent attorney, Cochrane specialises in filing applications in the pharmaceutical, nuclear medicine, chemical, petrochemical, agrichemical, explosives, metallurgical and biochemical fields, as well as plant breeders’ rights.
He is a fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law and a member of the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys and the Legal Practice Council.
His work has been recognised by many publications including IAM Strategy 300, Managing Intellectual Property IP STARS and IAM’s Global Leaders 2021.
He is the author of the plant breeders’ rights chapter in “Dean & Dyer: Intellectual Property Law in South Africa” (Oxford University Press) and a guest lecturer on patent protection for LLM students at Stellenbosch University.
Bilkis Daby
Position: Partner
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6351
Email: bilkis.daby@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Bilkis Daby is a partner in the trademarks department, holding an LLB degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
A qualified trademark practitioner, Fellow of the SA Institute of Intellectual Property Law and member of international organisations including INTA and PTMG, Daby specialises in all aspects of trademark formalities and commercialisation throughout Africa and internationally.
She is a member of the Legal Practice Council as well as a fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law.
Daby is a co-author of “The Practitioner’s Guide to Intellectual Property”, published by Lexis Nexis.
Name: Russell Bagnall Position: Partner / Patent Attorney Law firm: Adams & Adams
Name: Nola Bond Position: Director Law firm: Kisch IP
Name: Danie Dohmen Position: Partner / Patent Attorney Law firm: Adams & Adams
Name: Gérard du Plessis Position: Partner / Firm Chairman Law firm: Adams & Adams
Name: Stuart Gardiner Position: Special Counsel Law firm: Swart Attorneys
Name: Rowan Joseph Position: Patent Litigator Law firm: Von Seidels
Name: Nolo Khechane Position: Partner / Trademark Attorney Law firm: Adams & Adams
Name: Janusz Luterek Position: Patent Attorney Law firm: Hahn & Hahn Name: Simonne Moodie Position: Partner / Trademark Attorney Law firm: Von Seidels Name: Leanne Mostert Position: Partner Law firm: Webber Wentzel
Danie Dohmen
Position: Partner / Patent Attorney
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6201
Email: danie.dohmen@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Danie Dohmen is a partner at Adams & Adams in the patent litigation section. He specialises in patent, design, plant breeder’s rights and intellectual property agreement litigation, commercialisation and opinion work.
He has for a number of consecutive years been ranked in tier 1 for patent litigation in South Africa. He holds a BSc in physics and chemistry and an LLB. He is admitted and registered as an attorney of the South African High Court, a patent attorney and a notary public.
Dohmen is a director and president of the Licensing Executives Society of South Africa, a member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association as well as the American Bar Association and a fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law.
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 of the firm and has served as the chairman of Adams & Adams from 2013 to date.
Prior to that he served for a number of years as trademark 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.
His key clients include Comair Limited, Sasol Limited, Yum! Brands, SARS and Beiersdorf AG.
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 but 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.
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 editor 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”.
Nthabi Phaswana
Position: Partner / Attorney
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6382
Email: nthabi.phaswana@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Nthabisheng Phaswana is a partner in the Africa Patent Department. She holds LLB and LLM (Mercantile Law) from the University of Pretoria. She was admitted as an attorney in 2005.
Nthabisheng joined Adams & Adams in 2007 and has been responsible for patent and design enquiries, transactional matters in respect of patents and designs as well as filing and prosecution of patent and design applications throughout African countries outside of South Africa.
She has been actively involved in fostering relations between Adams and Adams and the Registrars of various African countries and as result she travels regularly throughout the continent.
She co-authored a book chapter on IP, Innovation and Management in Emerging Economies and a book on IP in Africa.
Jenny Pienaar
Position: Partner / Attorney
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.
Name: Nthabi Phaswana Position: Partner / Attorney Law firm: Adams & Adams Name: Jenny Pienaar Position: Partner Law firm: Adams & Adams
Name: Nicola Scheepers Position: Principal / Lawyer Law firm: Griffith Hack
Name: Gaelyn Scott Position: Head of Intellectual Property Department Law firm: ENSafrica
Name: Nishan Singh Position: Partner / Trademark Attorney Law firm: Adams & Adams
Name: Kelly Thompson Position: Partner Law firm: Adams & Adams
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: Bernadette Versfeld Position: Partner Law firm: Webber Wentzel
Name: Ron Wheeldon Position: Founder Law firm: Ron Wheeldon Attorneys
Tshepo Shabangu
Position: Partner
Law firm: Spoor & Fisher
Phone: +27 12 676 1001
Email: t.shabangu@spoor.com
Website: www.spoor.com/en/home
Tshepo Shabangu is a trademark practitioner, with BProc and LLB degrees from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and an LLM magna cum laude from the University of Bonn, Germany.
She is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and a Notary Public. Shabangu has over two decades of experience in the local and international selection, clearance, prosecution and registration of trademarks.
She has expertise in trademark audits, IP portfolio management and due diligence investigations, as well as drafting IP-related agreements and policies.
She has extensive knowledge in corporate governance, having sat on boards of various trusts and companies. She speaks eight languages, including German. She is a member of many industry associations including the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law, the International Bar Association, and the German and Austrian chambers of commerce.
Her work has been recognised by many publications and awards including World IP Review, the Woza Women in Law, and the SA Professional Services awards.
She is the co-author of the Traditional knowledge, cultural expressions and folklore chapter of “Dean & Dyer: Introduction to Intellectual Property Law” (Oxford University Press) 2014 and a member of several legal body committees.
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: Partner
Law firm: Adams & Adams
Phone: +27 12 432 6298
Email: kelly.thompson@adams.africa
Website: www.adams.africa
Kelly Thompson is a partner in the trademark litigation group at Adams & Adams, is an experienced, top-tier ranked attorney and trademark practitioner. Thompson 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 served as Chairperson of the trademark litigation section of Adams & Adams and has contributed to numerous publications on various aspects of trademark law.
Eben Van Wyk
Position: Partner
Law firm: Spoor & Fisher
Phone: +27 12 676 1001
Email: e.vanwyk@spoor.com
Website: www.spoor.com/en/home/
Eben van Wyk is a Trademark Attorney and has BProc and LLM (IP) cum laude degrees. He is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, as well as a non-practising solicitor of England and Wales. He has over two decades of experience in IP litigation, including trademark, copyright, unlawful competition domain and company name disputes, and advertising law litigation.
Van Wyk deals with domestic and international trademark prosecution, provides advertising advice and deals with commercial IP transactions, including licensing arrangements and due diligence investigations. He is a member of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law, a member of the INTA Geographical Indications Sub-Committee and a member of the Legal Practice Council.
His work has been recognised by many publications including Legal 500 EMEA, Chambers Global, and Cape Town IP Lawyer of the Year. He is co-author of the South African chapter in the Intellectual Property Review, writer of numerous articles for industry publications and a guest lecturer on the IP LLM and IP short course at Stellenbosch University.
Charles Webster
Position: Partner
Law firm: Spoor & Fisher
Phone: +27 12 676 1001
Email: c.webster@spoor.com
Website: www.spoor.com/en/home/
Charles Webster is a Trademark Attorney and has a BSc (Computer Science) and an LLB. He is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa. With over three decades of experience as a trademark practitioner, Webster specialises in litigation, in particular, trademark and copyright infringement, passing off, unlawful competition, Advertising Regulatory Board complaints, company name objections and domain name disputes. He has expert knowledge of all aspects of IP portfolio management and acts for a number of local and global blue-chip companies.
He is a fellow (and past president) of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law, and a member of INTA Leadership and the INTA Amicus Committee. His work has been recognised by many publications including Chambers & Partners and Who’s Who Legal. He is co-author of 4th edition of Webster and Page’s “South African Law of Trade Marks” (LexisNexis SA), 1997, and a lecturer and examiner in trademark and copyright law.
