Technology transactions

Outsourcing and alliancing

Government procurement

Contract management

Commercial transactions

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Intellectual property

  Our People

Pym’s Technology Lawyers: ‘Lawyers the ICT Industry Trust’

James Maxwell Principal Consultant, Solicitor and Notary Public

Areas of Expertise

• Trademark law
• Copyright law
• Patents and designs
• Licensing and distribution of Intellectual Property

James is the principal of Maxwell IP lawyers and is a principal legal consultant to Pym’s Technology Lawyers. James has 18 years of experience in the Intellectual Property law sector having joined Peter Maxwell and Associates in 1989. James advises on all areas of Intellectual Property law and manages the world wide portfolios of many well known Australian companies. His clients include Travelodge Hotels & Resorts Pty Limited, Modelco Pty Ltd, Inghams Enterprises Pty Ltd and The Royal Life Saving Society Australia. James also handles the Australian trade mark portfolios of overseas clients such as Fila Sportswear, Manpower Inc., Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Turner Entertainment Company, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation and The Stanley Works.
James’ practice specialises in providing advice to SMEs that provide products and services that are based on technology and intellectual property.
James has extensive experience in the preparation, filing and prosecutions of domestic and international trade marks, patents and designs. He also advises upon Business and Domain name registrations and investigation of trade marks. He specialises in infringement of IP rights and is experienced in all aspects of Federal Court litigation in relation to patent, trade mark, registered design and copyright infringements.
James’ knowledge of both IP and commercial law allows him to truly understand the client’s goals and expectations and enables him to advise upon how clients can best utilise their IP rights to maximise commercial success. James also has experience in drafting of various agreements including licensing, technology transfer and commercialisation of technology agreements.

Significant Projects

Previously, James has been employed by both Agmark Pty Ltd and Agricultural Licensing Australia Pty Ltd as a legal and marketing consultant. These two companies were involved in sourcing new varieties of plants, mainly from universities in the United States, and then licensing those rights to growers in Australia. Agricultural Licensing Australia Pty Ltd was the first company in the world to enable a plant breeder to collect royalties on the fruit sold rather than the seed purchased by growers, which lead to several US universities, including the University of California, greatly increasing their royalties and amending the way they approached the licensing of their new varieties throughout the world. James was instrumental in the drafting, negotiation and establishment of such licences.
As a result of this James has also assisted other Australian companies in relation to the licensing of new plant varieties including Swanport Harvest Pty Ltd.
James has advised, drafted and negotiated the transaction documents for sale of a company that provides wireless monitoring technology including the sale agreement, due diligence questionnaires, disclosure letter and the many support documents. The consideration was several millions of US dollars.
James advised an Australian SME that develops, manufactures and distributes innovative cosmetic products on their branding, distribution arrangements for their products including in Japan, Europe and the United States.
James advised a global manufacturing company on all in their licensing arrangements in Australia and protection of their global brand.
James is the honorary legal advisor to the Royal Lifesaving Society Australia and assists them with all legal aspects of their operations. The Association was established by Royal Charter and works very closely with many government departments including the Departments of Education in every state in Australia and relevant state departments devoted to sport.

External Bodies, Seminars and Publications

James is a member of the International Trade Mark Association, Licensing Executive Society, Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand and the Society for Computers and the law. James has made several contributions regarding updates in trade mark law to the International Trade Mark Association monthly Bulletin and has prepared and delivered a paper “Trade Mark and Plant Breeders Rights”. As the principal of two intellectual property related law firms, James is also responsible for training of all professional staff in relation to new developments in the law in this area and preparing and forwarding regular updates to clients about any significant changes in IP law.

James is a member of the Institute of the Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia and a Notary Public.

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