Overview
Charles is a Principal and experienced patent attorney with 25 years’ experience in the drafting, prosecution, enforcement and defence of patents in Australia and overseas. His technical experience across a wide range of chemistry related technologies is sought out by domestic and multinational clients.
Charles has worked in intellectual property for nearly 25 years. He drafts patent applications for local companies, universities and government research organizations. He is also actively involved in patent prosecution in Australia, New Zealand and overseas, having prosecuted or supervised the prosecution of more than 10,000 applications to date. His clients include some of the world’s most recognisable companies.
He has conducted many patent oppositions before the Australian Patent Office, on behalf of both patent applicants and opponents. He has also been heavily involved in a number of contentious matters in the Federal Court, including complex cases where Court and Patent Office matters have been intertwined.
Charles worked for almost a decade as a researcher at Sydney University (synthesis of HIV protease inhibitors), and then at the Cooperative Research Centre for Molecular Engineering and Technology, developing biosensors based around surface-tethered bilayer membranes, which provided complex multidisciplinary challenges in synthetic and physical chemistry, materials science, biotechnology and chemical analysis.
Charles has a special interest in developing and maintaining the business of the firm’s Japanese clients and as head of Spruson & Ferguson’s Japan team has spent more than a year in total in Japan on business. Charles is also a member of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association and chaired the Emerging IP rights standing committee for a number of years.
Charles is a fellow of the Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia (IPTA), Intellectual Property Society of Australian and New Zealand (IPSANZ), Royal Australian Chemical Institute (Chartered Chemist), and Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA).