Ben Williams | Senior Associate

Ben provides assistance to clients on trade mark protection and enforcement matters in New Zealand, Australia and further afield.

Expertise

Ben works with a range of clients to ensure protection of their brands, as well as helping them to secure trade mark registrations. He also assists clients with trade mark clearance searches, prosecution, opposition, revocation and invalidity proceedings.

Ben has an extensive knowledge of protecting trade marks in overseas jurisdictions and can provide strategic portfolio advice.

Experience

Before joining Baldwins (now AJ Park), Ben spent four years specialising in trade marks in the United Kingdom and European Union at Barker Brettell and A.A. Thornton & Co. He acted for clients in the sporting, fashion, academic and engineering sectors.

Beyond work

Ben relaxes outside of work by playing and watching sport and also enjoys travelling to new places and cities.

Services

Trade marks

Expertise

New Zealand

Qualifications

LLB (Hons), Bournemouth University
Postgraduate Certificate Intellectual Property, Bournemouth University

Velettà \ The beauty of being in business

Wellington woman Sarah Bacon traded her career as an entertainment lawyer to pursue a lifelong passion—creating her own luxury brand of natural skincare.

The beauty of being in business

Ben Williams's news and insights

Client story \ 14 Aug 2024

From farm to fashion to Olympics: Honest Wolf

At AJ Park, we take pride in transforming our clients' ideas into tangible assets that make a positive impact. Our client Honest Wolf, a shining example of Kiwi ingenuity, embodies this spirit by pioneering creative and sustainable solutions at the cross-section of farming and fashion.

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Article \ 1 Jul 2024

IPONZ rejects Indian Government's trade mark for BASMATI

IPONZ recently issued its decision declining the Indian Government’s certification application for the BASMATI word mark.

Article \ 3 Nov 2023

IPONZ issues updates to Trade Mark practice guidelines

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has now published its updated Trade Mark practice guidelines, which contain direction on the classification of non-fungible tokens, virtual goods, and virtual services.

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Article \ 9 Oct 2023

Trade Mark Register Searches: No Longer Just a "Nice to…

Following a recent decision of Australia's Federal Court, conducting a search of the trade mark register prior to adopting a new mark is now a necessity, not just the ideal.

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Article \ 6 Apr 2023

Korean and Japanese Trade Marks Offices now allow letters of…

The Korean and Japanese Trade Marks Offices have recently decided to amend their legislation to allow letters of consent from existing trade mark owners to add more flexibility in the registration of trade marks. This decision can potentially streamline the trade mark registration process where a trade mark application may have similarities to an existing trade mark.

Article \ 17 Nov 2022

A step forward: Indigenous IP rights in Australia

Australian trade mark legislation does not currently recognise indigenous rights. As stated by the Indigenous Expert Reference Group - The current legal framework does not and is not designed to provide First Nations people with the ability to obtain holistic recognition and protection of their indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights.

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Article \ 8 Nov 2022

Intellectual Property Offices on brand protection in the virtual world

As the virtual world continues to expand in size and popularity, more businesses are paying attention to this emerging sector. With the global virtual reality market estimated in the billions, there’s no denying that the investment to participate in the virtual world is occurring on a global scale and expected to grow.

Article \ 22 Nov 2021

Trade marks and the metaverse

Recently, Mark Zuckerberg revealed a new, ambitious vision for Facebook. The trillion-dollar social media company would transition to ’a metaverse company’ named ‘Meta’. This move indicates that the metaverse is something to keep an eye on, and it will perhaps play a dominant role in our future. Some are even claiming it is the next version of the internet. However, we will need to wait and see if it reaches these heights.