Litigation

Obtaining patent, design or trade mark registration is an important step in protecting intellectual property. Brands, designs, and inventions along with literary and artistic works are often the most valuable assets of a business, and like any asset, their value should be prevented from erosion.

Unfortunately obtaining a registration for intellectual property or having other rights that you are entitled to exploit does not always prevent others from infringing those rights. Sometimes your rights need to be upheld. Likewise in the New Zealand market where competition is encouraged it may be alleged that you are infringing the rights of another party when you are not. In that case your right to continue to do what is lawful needs to be defended.

Whether you are looking to enforce your rights or to defend yourself against allegations of wrongdoing we can provide litigation services. A J Park has a dedicated Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution team with an excellent record of achieving favourable resolutions in disputes with international ramifications.

All members of the team are qualified solicitors and are either registered patent attorneys or in the process of completing their qualifications. This makes it one of the few intellectual property dispute resolution teams in New Zealand that has both the legal and patent attorney qualifications to fully understand intellectual property disputes.

LITIGATION
In addition to patent, design or trade mark litigation (including patent revocation proceedings before the Court), our team handles disputes in a number of other areas. The Copyright Act prohibits unauthorised copying of a particular literary, artistic or other work. The Fair Trading Act prohibits deceptive practices in trade.  Passing off is an action in law which prevents misuse of another's reputation for trading purposes, whether accidental or deliberate. The Commerce Act controls anti-competitive practices. In many situations the law can provide remedies for breaches of equitable or contractual obligations attaching to trade secrets and confidential information. 

Our team handles these and other intellectual property law disputes.

Our IP litigation team has considerable experience in appearing before the Courts of New Zealand representing parties whose intellectual property rights have been infringed, defending claims of infringement, and in group cases in which world-wide precedents have been set.

OPPOSITIONS
Once a trade mark or patent application has been accepted by the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, it is advertised for opposition purposes in the Intellectual Property Journal. At that stage, anyone can object to registration, typically on the grounds of better rights to the same or similar trade mark or patent. Many other grounds can be argued depending on circumstances. Trade mark oppositions are often inter-connected with the types of disputes described on the litigation page of this website.

Our team has vast experience appearing before the Commissioner of Patents and Trade Marks and also appearing in the High Court both at first instance and on appeals in opposition proceedings. The experience of the team has resulted in many favourable outcomes for clients in contentious cases involving both trade marks and patents.

ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION
Although it is sometimes necessary to go to court to protect your intellectual property rights or settle a dispute, litigation can often be avoided through arbitration and mediation.  In many cases, it's more effective and less costly to resolve differences this way.

Our mediation team has extensive experience in the arbitration and mediation of intellectual property disputes.  They understand the full range of dispute resolution options available to you, and they'll work closely with you provide you with professional advice and support, during these processes.