Current practice

Tom is a registered patent attorney with a PhD in Medicine. Tom provides strategic advice to Australian and foreign clients in securing and managing patent rights particularly in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Industry experience

Tom’s practice includes advising on intellectual property rights for innovations in bio-pharmaceuticals and bio-materials, diagnostics and medical devices, food and fermentation technology, environmental biotechnology, and plant technology and plant varieties. He has an interest in stem cell therapies and in drug discovery technologies based on proteomics and functional genomics.

He is experienced in all aspects of the preparation and prosecution of patent applications including oppositions, patent validity and infringement issues. Tom also represents clients in Australian patent opposition proceedings and he works with the broader Freehills IP group in litigation of biotechnology and pharmaceutical patents.

Tom also works with the Freehills IP group in commercial transactions, and has particular experience in providing due diligence services on matters related to investment in and acquisition of intellectual property and associated technology.

Professional background

Prior to entering the patent attorney profession, Tom worked as a post-doctoral research fellow on the regulation of gene expression during lymphopoiesis and also on xeno-transplantation therapies. He then worked as an Examiner of Patents in biotechnology at the Australian Patent and Trade Marks Office.

Tom is a Registered Patent and Trade Marks Attorney before the Australian Patent and Trade Marks Office and the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, and a Fellow of the Institute of Patent and Trade Marks Attorneys of Australia.

He has a B. Sc (Honours) degree majoring in immunology and pathology and a PhD (Medicine) from the University of Melbourne. He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law from the University of Technology, Sydney.