Dr. Elizabeth Houlihan

Our Philosophy

We are a full-service, one-stop Patent & Trade Mark Attorney Firm.

At Houlihan², since 2002, our role is and has been to advise you on how to best and most appropriately protect your creativity and to turn your Intellectual Property into a valuable asset. We are here to assist in the securing and maintenance of your Intellectual Property Rights and also to assist with integrating these Rights into your business goals. As part of your team, our Patent Attorneys and Trade Mark Attorneys will work closely with you to tailor your requirements to fit your business needs. This is all done behind a backdrop of our philosophy to value² your asset in the most cost-effective way.

Our Patent Attorneys and Trade Mark Attorneys are creative thinkers and are able to provide solutions outside the square^® to any problem. We complement your team by bringing our wealth of experience in Patents, Trade Marks, Designs and other forms of Intellectual Property, with a fresh and enthusiastic approach.

Our Expertise

Our Patent Attorneys can assist you in protecting your inventions in all areas of Chemistry, Life Sciences, Biotechnology, Medical Devices, Electronics, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, and ICT.

Our Patent Attorneys can also assist you in protecting the new Designs that you have applied to your products.

Our Trade Mark Attorneys can assist you to protect your Brand and your reputation through strategic Trade Mark protection, from filing through to negotiation and litigation.

Our Firm also specialises in protecting Designs and in Copyright issues.

We serve a broad client base including:

• Sole inventors;
• Universities/Research Institutes;
• Small, medium and large businesses;
• Government authorities/instrumentalities; and
• International corporations.

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As a Co-founder and Director of the Firm, Elizabeth is a Registered Patent & Trade Mark Attorney in both Australia and New Zealand. She holds a B.Sc. majoring in both Chemistry and Biochemistry, a B.Sc.(Hons) in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Bioinorganic Chemistry, a M.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry and X-Ray Crystallography. Elizabeth was awarded a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship by the University of Melbourne, where she worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow for five years in the field of Molecular Frameworks and Crystal Engineering. Elizabeth has a Graduate Diploma in Tertiary Education and was a University Chemistry Lecturer for a number of years before entering the Intellectual Property field in 1994, when she obtained a Masters in Intellectual and Industrial Property Law.

Elizabeth’s professional practice specializes in drafting, prosecution and litigation of Chemical, Biochemical and Pharmaceutical matters, before the Australian and New Zealand Patent Offices. Elizabeth also practises in the field of Trade Marks, before both the Australian and New Zealand Trade Marks Offices and in the field of Designs, before the Australian and New Zealand Designs Office.

Elizabeth is the Firm’s Chemical Patent Litigator and has been involved in numerous Patent litigation Proceedings before the Federal, Full Federal and High Courts of Australia and in Copyright Proceedings before the High Court of New Zealand. She has also provided numerous validity and infringement opinions on Chemical and Pharmaceutical Patent matters. Her recent litigation successes have been in relation to lubricants, pesticides, parasiticides, HFC refrigerants and immunodiagnostic assays and fertility devices.

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Elizabeth is the only Australia and New Zealand Patent & Trade Mark Attorney who is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. She is a Member of FICPI, AIPLA, INTA, The Asian Patent Attorneys Association, The Institute of Patent Attorneys of New Zealand, The Licensing Executives Society and The Intellectual Property Society of Australia and New Zealand. Elizabeth also serves as the Vice-Chair of the International Trade Marks Committee of the US-based IPO Association and has collated and published White Papers on Single Colour Marks, Famous Marks, Bad Faith Filings, Shape Trade Marks and Logo Trade Marks from an International Perspective.

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