February Edition | From our President - Sue Muggleston
Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you enjoyed some down-time over the festive season and have come back relaxed and refreshed, ready for all that 2024 will bring. It is of course a new financial year for LESANZ and I hope that you have renewed your membership because we are anticipating an exciting year ahead.
A highlight of the year is expected to be the 50th Anniversary Conference being held in Sydney on March 6-8. The full programme is coming together nicely now with some amazing speakers lined up to inspire you along with some awesome social events, especially our Gala Dinner onboard the super yacht The Jackson whilst sailing in the spectacular Sydney Harbour. I do hope that you will be able to join us for this milestone occasion.
Our pilot Mentoring Programme is soon coming to an end and, after reviewing the results, we intend to roll this out on a more permanent basis. Please be in touch if you are interested in being a mentor and, for mentees, keep an eye out for the announcement of Expressions of Interest.
Our regional committees are revitalising after the trials of running events during covid so support your regions by attending the events that are planned for the year. Please contact any of us if you have ideas for events, speakers you particularly want to hear from or topics you want to find out more about.
Don’t forget that there are many resources available both on our website and the LESI website. We will be undergoing a refresh of our website very soon that we hope will make it easier to find what you are looking for and to connect with other members.
Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and rewarding 2024.
Intro to the Board/Trustees Series | Chris Wilkinson - Secretary
Hi, I’m Chris Wilkinson, and I’m a Patent Attorney (and Partner) in the ICT group with Madderns based in in Adelaide. Early in my career at Madderns, the senior partner of the firm volunteered me onto the SA LESANZ committee, and I haven’t looked back. I eventually became the chair of the SA committee and I’m now the national Secretary of LESANZ after previously being a Trustee at Large. I’m currently coordinating the LESANZ submission to IP Australia on patentability of computer implemented inventions, so if you have any views on this please get in touch.
I really enjoy being a part of the LESANZ professional community. I think we have quite a collegiate networking, we host interesting events, and the conferences are a great chance to connect with others in the field. I personally like the broad scope of LESANZ which focuses on the commercialisation journey which I think brings together a wider group of professionals than many other professional organisations. As we all have different niches in the commercialisation space I have found the diversity provides both interesting conversations and its good for networking and referrals.
I came to the patent attorney profession after a diverse technical background. I was a vacation scholar at CSIRO ATNF the year after the WI-FI patent was filed, and I can remember being shown this new DFT chip they had developed which formed a core of their WI-FI technology. I obtained a PhD in experimental High Energy Astrophysics using a cosmic ray detector located in the Utah desert, which meant I had to spent six months based in Salt Lake City during my PhD. After completing my PhD I then took a job as a defence researcher with the Defence Science Technology Organisation (DSTO, now DSTG) working the explosive blast effects area. This was literally real-life MythBusters as had to design experiments centered around blowing things up, then work out how to measure and simulate what was actually going on. I then changed tack to become a bioinformatician working at the WEHI and later at the CHRI and Statistics department at the University of Adelaide focusing on understanding the genetic basis of leukaemia and stem cells. After having worked across research, defence and biotech sectors, I took a job as a trainee patent attorney where I could put that diversity of experience to good use. I’ve now been in the profession for 18 years and I really enjoy the experience of working with innovative companies and research organisations and helping to protect their IP. I find my technical background helps me to engage with inventors, so you can then dive in and find out how they actually managed to get something to work (and then you get to work out how to protect it). It’s really great getting to see companies take an idea, turn it into a product and launch it into the market.
On the personal side, I live in Adelaide, with my partner who I met during my honours year and we have two kids who are now both at University. Neither did Physics. I try and keep active by running and swimming, and walking our Pomeranian, or building defences to stop our rabbit escaping our backyard. We recently took a trip to Tromso, Norway to see the Northern Lights (and Prague and Munich), which was definitely a bucket list trip (being a cosmic ray physicist). It was great trip, and I’m more than happy to tell you all about it if you ask me at the conference….
Past Presidents Series | Anne Trimmer AO
Anne will be speaking at the Conference in Sydney in our International Women's Day IP Panel on March 8th.
Anne Trimmer is a lawyer by background, specialising in commercial law with a technology focus.
She was a partner of several major law firms, including MinterEllison, prior to leaving legal practice. Anne was President of LES ANZ in 1997 -1998, and President of the Law Council of Australia in 2000-2001.
During the period 2001 - 2008, Anne served as council member and then Chair of the Commonwealth Government’s Advisory Council on Intellectual Property. After leaving legal practice, Anne served as Secretary General of the Australian Medical Association for five years, following a period as CEO of the Medical Technology Association of Australia. She has served on the boards of organisations in fields as diverse as law, technology, education, and health.
Anne was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 2020.
While now retired from full-time employment, Anne is a director of the Australian Council on Health Care Standards, and a director of its international subsidiary, ACHSI. On retirement, Anne committed to mastering the Italian language (having had to give it away when work required too much travel for regular classes). Now in her sixth year of Italian studies, Anne reads, writes, and listens to Italian daily, and speaks it as often as possible. This has been deepened by regular travel to Italy.
The other great joy in Anne's life is her four grandchildren, all born within the past four years, together with two older grandsons of her husband, Jeff. The grandchildren form quite a gang and are a lot of fun!
Conference - Keynote announcement
Melissa Melissa Clark-Reynolds ONZM
Melissa Clark-Reynolds, ONZM became a Futurist and Professional Director after 25 plus years’ experience as an entrepreneur and CEO of a number of Technology companies across Australasia. She founded several tech companies, and has raised capital in NZ, UK and Japan as well as being on the Boards of a number of high growth companies.
She was awarded the ONZM for Services to Technology in 2015. She is widely recognised as a leading edge thinker on strategy and the future of business models. She recently made a podcast with NASA on what to eat in space.
Melissa is a Non-exec Director on the Boards of internationally focussed, innovative companies Atkins Ranch Lamb, AoFrio Ltd and Wētā Workshop. She is a sought after speaker on how to think about the future and use that thinking in creating successful strategies.
6-8 March 2024 | Sydney @ Fishburners | Connect People and IP - Past Present and Future
Full program here
This year, we're commemorating a remarkable milestone: the 50th Anniversary of LESANZ. To honour this significant event, we're organising an extraordinary conference, crowned by a Gala Dinner aboard Sydney's latest marvel, The Jackson Super Yacht! Imagine gliding through the breathtaking vistas of Sydney Harbour at dusk, creating an enchanting experience you won't want to miss. We warmly invite you to join us for this magical celebration.
Secure your spot now or reach out to the Secretariat for help. Don’t forget, group bookings enjoy a generous 15% discount.
Renew 2024 Membership now
Membership Renewals for professional members are now overdue. 1st January - 31st December 2024.
Corporate members are being contacted directly by the Secretariat.
To renew, simply log in to your LESANZ account online. Once logged in, navigate to your profile page where you'll find the 'Renew Now' button (see side example). Click this to add the renewal fees to your shopping cart, where you can proceed to payment. You have the option to pay immediately with a credit card, or you may choose to make a direct credit payment to the LESANZ bank account.
Need assistance? Email the Secretariat to give you a call back to assist over the phone here: Secretariat
Last call for additional feedback please!
Are subject matter laws affecting commercialisation strategies in AU?
In December we hosted an online meeting with our members to garner valuable feedback. We are still wanting to gather insights and suggestions for our comprehensive submission, which is due late this month 2024. Your input is crucial to us, so we encourage you to share your thoughts and help shape our future direction.
Do you have any views on how Australian laws on patenting of software and computer implemented inventions are affecting commercialisation and investment? We are particularly interested in input/comments from universities, research organisations, or anyone in the BD/tech transfer space on how uncertainty affects commercialisation decisions and strategies.
Also be interested input from patent attorneys actively dealing with the issues to get their perspectives, along with the perspectives of their international clients & associates they work with.
LESANZ is preparing a submission, coordinated by LESANZ Secretary Chris Wilkinson. We would like to seek additional input from more members on how our current patentable subject matters in this area is affecting commercialisation and commercialising strategy.
If you have any opinions or wish to contribute to the preparation of the submission, please reach out to Chris by email.