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Nigel Lokan
Partner, Patent Attorney, MinterEllison Consulting, Sydney
I am an Australian and New Zealand patent attorney with more than 20 years' experience in patent practice including drafting, prosecution, oppositions and providing advice on patent validity and infringement. I have a technical background in chemistry and advise clients across a range of industries including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, biotechnology, food technology, process engineering, materials, mining and medical devices.

I manage the global patent portfolios of a number of ASX and NASDAQ listed biotechnology companies and have extensive experience running patent oppositions before the Australian and New Zealand Patent Offices. I have also been involved in a number of high-profile patent litigation matters in Australia.

Career highlights

I have a Ph.D in the fields of organic chemistry and photochemistry. My doctoral research involved the synthesis of complex organic molecules for studying electron and energy transfer processes. I am the co-author of more than 10 publications in peer reviewed journals, including the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

  • Securing patents for an Australian university that were subsequently licensed and earned substantial royalties for the university
  • Developing and executing a successful global patent strategy to protect a key compound for a listed Australian biotechnology company in the face of a difficult prior art landscape
  • Acting for Bayer CropScience AG and Allergan Inc. in a number of significant Australian patent oppositions
  • Providing technical advice to Bayer Pharma AG in the Australian Yasmin litigation relating to oral contraceptives
  • Providing ownership and inventorship opinions to a range of Australian universities

Awards and recognition

  • Leading patent professional in Intellectual Asset Management 1000 (IAM 1000) 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021
  • Leading lawyer for Life Sciences – Australia in Expert Guides, 2018 (one of eight listed).

Our consulting services are provided by the partnerships known as MinterEllison Consulting (ABN 50 017 469 292) and MinterEllison Advisory (ABN 27 632 804 465) which operate through the company, MinterEllison Consulting Pty Limited (ABN 50 077 613 828), all of which are part of the MinterEllison Group. Our consulting services do not constitute legal services nor legal advice and are not provided by Australian legal practitioners acting in that capacity. The laws and regulations which govern the provision of legal services in the relevant jurisdiction do not apply to the provision of non-legal services.

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