Australia’s leading specialist IP firm, Davies Collison Cave Pty Ltd (DCC) provides a wide range of strategically focused IP services throughout Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the Pacific Islands. Our practice is built on having the expertise, scope and commitment to safeguard our clients’ intellectual property.
Our priority is understanding, advising and protecting our clients’ intellectual property in accordance with their individual strategic business needs. We are internationally recognised as innovative leaders by both clients and professional organisations. The DCC Singapore office opened in 2015 and ensures that our support for clients’ IP strategies complements their business plans seamlessly across multiple jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region. This significant step underscores our commitment to servicing local and international clients’ IP needs in Singapore and across Southeast Asia.
DCC is renowned for providing strategically focused services across the full range of IP matters, including:
- trademarks;
- patents;
- trade secrets;
- domain names;
- copyright;
- designs;
- plant variety rights;
- licensing and commercialisation;
- litigation and dispute resolution; and
- privacy and data protection.
Trademark services
Over the years, DCC has grown to become the largest, most experienced trademark practice in Australia – filing more trademark applications than any other Australian firm annually since 1999.
Our trademark group has the largest search and clearance team in the country and is one of the most trusted advisers for trademark searching, with a team of five paralegal trademark searchers. The firm has handled some of the most high-profile corporate rebrandings for national and international organisations. DCC also has a significant opposition practice with an enviable success rate.
Many of our people are actively engaged in teaching IP subjects and are leaders of local and international professional bodies. This knowledge of the IP legal policy framework directly benefits our clients and overseas associates. In particular, Michael Wolnizer, Nick Holmes and Ian Drew teach components of trademark practice and trademark law for the University of Melbourne’s LLM course.
Principals of the firm hold senior positions in international and local organisations:
- Adam Sears is past chair of the International Trademark Association (INTA) Harmonisation Committee and a current committee member of the INTA Unfair Competition Committee.
- Michael Wolnizer is past vice chair of the INTA Emerging Issues Committee; past INTA Membership Recruitment Taskforce leader for the Asia-Pacific Region; past chair of the INTA Trademarks Office Practice Subcommittee; a member of the INTA Leadership Development Committee; past chair of the Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand (IPSANZ) Victoria chapter; and a member of the Institute of Patent and Trademark Attorneys Trademarks Committee.
- Brett Lewis is a member of the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys Trademarks Committee.
- Marion Heathcote is a past member of the board of directors of INTA; chair of INTA’s Indigenous Rights Committee; a member of INTA’s International Moot Court Project Team; a member of the Asia-Pacific Advisory Council and Advocacy Group Council; a past vice president of IPSANZ; a past member of the International Wine Law Association’s Management Committee (Australasian Chapter); and chair of the MARQUES Indigenous Peoples Rights Subcommittee Outer Borders Team.
- Nick Holmes is a past member of the INTA Asia-Pacific and Canada Parallel Imports Committee; a member of the INTA Asia-Pacific and Canada Famous and Well-Known Trademarks Committee; a committee member of the IP Office of New Zealand Hearings Technical Focus Group; and a member of the INTA International Moot Court Project Team.
- Ian Drew is co-chair of the INTA Bulletins Asia Pacific Law and Practice Sub-committee.
- Elizabeth Godfrey is a past member of the INTA Internet Committee’s Rights, Protection Measures Review Subcommittee.
- Carly Mansell is a member of the INTA Non-Traditional Marks Committee.
- Esther Seow is an executive member of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (Singapore Group).
- Stuart Green is a member of the INTA Publications Committee.
In recent years, the trademark team has been recognised by the WTR 1000 as a top-ranking trademark practice and as the top filer in Australia.