Dr Victoria Argyle

Victoria has an academic background in both law (LLB) and chemistry (PhD) and began her professional career as a patent attorney. She then took on the role of employed barrister with Andrew Brown KC, where she was introduced to the world of Intellectual Property (IP) litigation. She is currently Special Counsel in the litigation and dispute resolution team at AJ Park.

Most of Victoria’s work, and the work she really enjoys doing, concerns trade mark and patent proceedings before the Intellectual Property Offices of Australia and New Zealand. For example, “where a client learns of a trade mark or patent that has proceeded to acceptance but will either block their own activities or infringe their rights, trade mark and patent opposition proceedings before the Offices must be initiated to (hopefully) prevent the application from proceeding to grant”.

“It is, of course, every litigators dream to end up in court,” says Victoria, but given the expense, clients are far less keen! Her role is to assist clients in reaching a settlement without court proceedings where possible and, when a case does end up in court, to help clients navigate proceedings and promote settlement negotiations as a means of resolution.

Asked what she enjoys most about working in IP, Victoria says, “patent law is one of those areas where you are constantly given an opportunity to learn something new. My career so far has exposed me to many different fields and innovative people.”

This is her first year teaching on the Master of Intellectual Property (MIP). However, Victoria has previously been a guest lecturer teaching patent litigation to chemistry students. Her favourite thing about teaching at the University of Auckland is “being a part of the development of the next generation of specialists”.

For students considering a career in IP, Victoria says, “If you have a background in science, aim to get a degree at postgraduate level to enable you to qualify as a registered Patent Attorney in Australia and New Zealand. This will give you more freedom in terms of the direction of your IP career.”

If you don’t have a background in science, she would still recommend IP as a career, advising that students keep a strong commercial focus as, “to properly advise on IP rights you must be able to understand the business behind the IP. Often advising on IP involves also giving commercial advice.”