For Legal Professionals

The following pages aim to provide relevant information regarding intellectual property law and practice in New Zealand and Australia, including general information on the governing legislation, links to the actual legislation, and summaries of important case law in this field.  Also included is information on the IP Offices of each country, including a list of days when the Offices are closed for public holidays.

If you are a small to medium New Zealand or Australian law firm who does not have an IP department, we are happy to work with you.  Pipers is able to play a prominent support role on behalf of legal firms who do not have a specialist IP department and we liaise with a number of firms who either require our specialist skills or are in need of a competent firm with sufficient resources to handle overflow work within stringent time restraints.  We can assist your clients with advice on all IP matters as well as with drafting, filing and prosecuting local and international patent, trade mark and design applications.  We can conduct comprehensive patent, design and trade mark searches for your clients and prepare IP related due diligence reports and substantive written opinions on litigation and enforcement matters if required.