Overview
Nigel is a registered patent attorney in the Engineering & Information Communication Technology team at Spruson & Ferguson. His expertise spans across a broad range of patent and design matters including assessing patentability and freedom-to-operate (infringement risk), preparing patent specifications and design applications, and getting patent and design applications through examination. Nigel has also been involved with patent oppositions before the Australian IP Office and has had success in getting patents granted on computer-implemented inventions.
With an eye for detail and the other eye on the bigger picture, Nigel ensures that his clients’ intellectual property strategies are aligned with their commercial goals. He adopts a clear and pragmatic approach when advising on intellectual property matters. He has experience in managing intellectual property portfolios for multi-national corporations. He also has experience in developing and managing portfolios for universities, small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), and individuals.
Nigel graduated from Massey University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Engineering in information and telecommunications engineering with first class honors and as a university scholar. During his time with the university, he worked as a research assistant on a number of projects including a smart home surveillance system using image processing, a satellite base station, an electromagnetic water treatment system, and DSL filter development. His work on the DSL filter development was included in a patent application.
Nigel’s career as a patent attorney began in 2008 at a prestigious intellectual property law firm in New Zealand. During his time with that firm, he was involved with updating the New Zealand chapters of some of the popular international IP manuals. He moved to Australia in 2014 where continued his career with well-respected firms, including one of the oldest firms in Australia, a boutique firm as a Principal, and a large Melbourne firm. Nigel joined Spruson & Ferguson in 2021.