Code of Conduct for Trans-Tasman Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys 2018

The Australian and New Zealand Code of Conduct for Trans-Tasman Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys 2018 requires us to disclose certain information to you and to obtain consent to certain disclosures and uses of client information.

Ownership structure

AJ Park is an incorporated registered patent and trade marks attorney owned by IPH Limited, a public company that is the holding company for a number of intellectual property professional services businesses operating under different brands across the Asia-Pacific region. 

AJ Park is bound by the Australian and New Zealand Code of Conduct for Trans-Tasman Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys 2018 (Code) and, for the purposes of the Code, is a member of an ‘ownership group’ within the meaning of the Code. The ownership group comprises Spruson & Ferguson Pty Limited, Spruson & Ferguson Lawyers Pty Ltd, Fisher Adams Kelly Pty Ltd, AJ Park IP Limited (and affiliated company AJ Park Law Limited), Practice Insight Pty Limited, Cullens Pty Ltd and Pizzeys Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys Pty Ltd. Spruson & Ferguson and Pizzeys also comprise patent and trade marks attorney entities outside Australia and New Zealand. Information on all legal entities forming part of the IPH Limited group is available at http://www.iphltd.com.au/about-iph/.

Each of the IPH professional services group businesses of Spruson & Ferguson, Fisher Adams Kelly Pty Ltd, Cullens Pty Ltd, AJ Park and Pizzeys operate independently from one another in the provision to clients of attorney professional services.* For more information on how we manage group relationships, including appropriate disclosures of group relationships and management of actual or potential conflicts of interest, please see our Group Relationships Statement.

* A group business may in some cases engage or be engaged by another group business as a foreign agent or lawyer.  Fisher Adams Kelly Pty Ltd and Cullens Pty Ltd will combine business operations with Spruson & Ferguson under the Spruson & Ferguson brand from April 2018 and be fully integrated into Spruson & Ferguson Pty Limited in July 2018. 

Consent to use and disclosure

In order for us to provide services to you, we may need to disclose information provided by or with respect to clients (information) to third parties such as government authorities, courts, foreign patent and trade mark agents or lawyers, renewals agents, counsel and experts. 

We also rely upon back-office, non-professional services provided by entities within the IPH Limited group that do not provide attorney services, including IT, insurance, finance and accounting services, and report certain information to IPH Limited to satisfy corporate governance, management and reporting responsibilities. We may disclose information to such group entities for these purposes.

Non-public information is not shared with any other IPH professional services group business (unless engaged as a foreign agent or lawyer) and all non-public information remains subject to confidentiality and is not further used or disclosed.

By continuing to instruct us, you consent, on your own behalf and on behalf of your clients for whom you ask us to act, to the sharing of information for these purposes.

Personal information and privacy

We collect, use, manage and disclose ‘personal information’ in accordance with our Privacy Policy. 

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