Admitted to Bar: 2004

Appointed Senior Counsel: 2018

Floor Member Since: 2007

Neil specialises in intellectual property law and chiefly practises in patent, copyright, trade mark, confidential information, consumer protection and other commercial/equity matters.  He has appeared in some of Australia’s leading intellectual property cases including:

• Apotex v sanofi-aventis (patentability of methods of medical treatment, High Court)
• Northern Territory v Collins (indirect patent infringement, High Court),
• AstraZeneca v Apotex (patent obviousness, High Court)
• Roadshow Films v iiNet (liability of ISPs for copyright infringement, Full Federal Court)
• EMI v Larrikin (the Down Under/Kookaburra case, reproduction of a substantial part of a well-known children’s song in a famous rock song, Full Federal Court)
• Apple v Samsung (the Australian chapter of multinational patent litigation over smartphone and tablet technology, Federal Court).

Neil appears for, and advises, clients across a range of industries, including pharmaceuticals (originator and generic), mining, information technology, telecommunications, music, consumer goods, liquor, gaming, finance and local government. He appears chiefly in the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, and elsewhere as required.  He also appears in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, the Patents Office, the Trade Marks Office, and the Copyright Tribunal; and at mediations.

Before joining the Bar, he was a senior associate specialising in intellectual property disputes in a leading Australian-based multinational law firm. He was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1998.

Information about Neil’s listings in the legal rankings, guides and directories identifying leading counsel may be found in his CV, which can be downloaded below.