Darren commenced his professional career qualifying as a patent attorney, specialising in the drafting & prosecution of patent applications, and conducting patent searches. He also prepared opinions on novelty and infringement matters in the fields of patent, design and copyright law. He soon found that his interest lay in the commercial aspects of intellectual property (“IP”), and he became involved in the drafting of commercial agreements having IP as basis (typically: licence agreements, supply and distribution agreements, assignment of copyright agreements, confidentiality agreements). Darren continued to immerse himself and practice in these areas when he joined Adams & Adams patent attorneys.
Darren was then invited to join Deloitte and Touche, where he was involved in the investigation and assessment of taxpayers’ technologies and activities, with an eye to maximising R&D income tax deductions, and opinion work related to the same. There, he also enjoyed acting as advisor both to the National Treasury – on issues of legislative drafting in the Income Tax Act – and to the SA Revenue Services – on issues of interpretation of income tax legislation, and its practice.
This privileged, rich background led Darren to found the specialist IP firm and tax consultancy, Margo Attorneys, where he continues to practice in these specialised disciplines.
Collectively, Darren has conducted technical and legal work for a number of clients across a spectrum of industries, including the pharmaceutical, petrochemical, explosives, weapons and telecommunications industries, amongst others. Clients served include, amongst others:
The Sasol Group of Companies
The Reunert Group of Companies
Pfizer
Acelor Mittal (Ispat Iscor)
African Explosives Limited
Transnet Limited
Deloitte & Touche and
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Richard commenced his Articles of Clerkship with specialist IP law firm D.M. Kisch Inc (Johannesburg, South Africa) in January 2002, where he quickly rose through the ranks, being appointed an associate in March 2005 and a Director in March 2006.
Richard was primarily engaged in the Trade Mark Department of the firm managing both contentious and non-contentious matters concerning trade marks, copyright, passing-off, unlawful competition, domain name disputes and complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority. Whilst his client base was not confined to any one particular industry, the majority of Richard’s clients were involved in the software and technology sector.
Richard was also the Head of the Franchise Department and managed matters concerning the drafting and interpretation of franchise agreements, advising clients on the setting up of a franchise business model, and litigation in relation to franchise agreements. He was also a member of the firms Commercial Law department where he assisted the Head of Department in a broad range of contentious and non-contentious commercial matters, including drafting, advising on and negotiating commercial agreements and business structures, and commercial litigation.
In May 2008, Richard took up an opportunity to work abroad with the firm Waterfront Solicitors LLP (then known as Waterfront Partnership) in London, where his main area of focus was contentious IP matters. Whilst there, Richard’s role changed to a degree to include non-contentious IP work as well as contentious and general commercial work.
Richard has, throughout his career, represented both local and international clients’ across a broad spectrum of industries. A sample of the clients Richard has represented includes:
Markinor (Pty) Limited
Oilkol (Pty) Limited
Samancor Chrome Limited
Mugg & Bean (Pty) Limited
Nando’s
Ordnance Survey (United Kingdom)
Distilled Limited (United Kingdom) and
Creative Technology Limited (United Kingdom)
