Elena Szentivanyi

President, NZIPA
Henry Hughes, Wellington Office

Elena has been with Henry Hughes since 1992 and became a principal in 2002. She specialises in trade marks and domain names.

As well as being registered as both a New Zealand and an Australian Patent Attorney, Elena completed her graduate certificate in Trade Mark law and is a registered Trade Mark Attorney in Australia.

Elena’s practice covers the development, establishment, management, exploitation and enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Elena belongs to the New Zealand Law Society, and has membership of several other overseas related organisations including INTA, IPSANZ and APAA.

Tom Robertson

Vice President, NZIPA
Pipers, Lower Hutt Office
Email trobertson@piperpat.com

Tom joined Pipers in 2002 and qualified as a Patent Attorney in 2003. Tom has been working in the Intellectual Property field since 1986 and is experienced in all Intellectual Property matters. Tom works in all areas of patent, trademark & designs law including due diligence, Patent searching, drafting and Intellectual Property legal opinion work.

Along with Tom’s substantial New Zealand IP experience Tom has also worked in Brisbane Australia where he developed and gained an extensive and first hand knowledge of Australian Intellectual Property. Tom is also a registered Patent Attorney in Australia

Tom is a member IPSANZ, APAA & BNI.

Britta Fromow

Council, NZIPA
James & Wells, Wellington Office
Email britta.fromow@jamesandwells.com

Britta is a consultant at James & Wells, having worked in the intellectual property field since 2001. She qualified as a Patent Attorney in 2004 and specialises in helping her clients to protect and commercialise their intellectual property rights, particularly in the fields of mechanical and electronic engineering. Britta is also an expert in copyright and registered designs.

Britta is also a member of the New Zealand Law Society, IPSANZ, LESI and FICPI.

Andrew Scott

Council, NZIPA

James & Wells, Christchurch Office

email andrews@jaws.co.nz

Andrew worked for Davies Collison Cave (Australia) for 8 years before commencing with James & Wells in Christchurch, where he has lived for the past 6 years. He is passionate about providing solid, commercially relevant intellectual property strategies to reduce environmental impact, improve human and animal health, develop high-tech devices and build infrastructure for the future.

Duncan de Geest

Council, NZIPA

AJ Park, Wellington Office

email duncan.degeest@ajpark.com

Stephanie Grant

COUNCIL, NZIPA

Wellington UniVentures

email stephanie.grant@wellingtonuniventures.nz

Stephanie started her IP career in 2011 at Baldwins Intellectual Property before moving to an in-house position Victoria Link Limited (now Wellington UniVentures), the commercialisation office of Victoria University of Wellington in 2018. Stephanie is responsible for the management of intellectual property that arises out of academic research.

Stephanie has a PhD in Chemistry and is a registered trans Tasman Patent Attorney, and represents in-house attorneys at NZIPA.

Hazell Fernandez

COUNCIL, NZIPA

james & wells, Auckland OFFICE

email hazell.fernandez@jamesandwells.com

Hazell joined James & Well’s Auckland Patents Team in2017. She registered as a Patent Attorney in 2021 and has a degree in Biomedical Engineering as well as a Master of Laws. Hazell’s work focuses on patent prosecution, drafting patent specifications and patent research. 

Hazell provides advice in relation to a range of mechanical and electrical technologies, particularly medical technology.

Victoria Argyle
Council, NZIPA
AJ Park, Auckland Office

Dr Victoria Argyle is Senior Associate in the Litigation team at AJ Park and a registered patent attorney (New Zealand and Australia). Immediately prior to joining AJPark, Victoria practiced as an employed Barrister with Andrew Brown QC and acted as Junior Counsel on patent opposition and revocation matters, and trademark opposition matters before IPONZ. Prior to joining Andrew’s practice, Victoria worked as a patent attorney with Baldwins Intellectual Property in the ChemBio team.

Matt Adams
Immediate Past President
FB Rice, Wellington Office

NZIPA representatives on IPONZ Technical Focus Groups

Tom Robertson

Pipers, Lower Hutt Office
Email trobertson@piperpat.com

Elena Szentivanyi

Henry Hughes, Wellington

Email elena@henryhughes.co.nz

Duncan de Geest

AJ Park, Wellington

Email duncan.degeest@ajpark.com