Darren Margo
Managing Director
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
| QUALIFICATION OBTAINED | Admitted Attorney (Membership No.: 22119) |
| QUALIFICATION OBTAINED | Registered Patent Attorney |
| PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION | Registered Tax Practitioner (Registration No.: PR-6073B88) |
UNIVERSITY QUALIFICATIONS
| INSTITUTION | University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg |
| QUALIFICATIONS OBTAINED | i. BSc (Chemistry; Applied Chemistry);
ii. LLB; and iii. BSc (Mathematics) |
CAREER BACKGROUND: IN BRIEF
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 with IP as basis, 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. Since then, 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 and the Department of Science & Technology – on issues of interpretation of income tax legislation, and its practice. Darren also has a particular interest in the exchange control issues that arise in transactions having IP as basis.
This led Darren to found the specialist IP firm and tax consultancy, Margo® Attorneys, Inc. in 2009, where he and his team continue to practice in these specialised disciplines. He also attends to the registration and maintenance of high-profile trade mark, patent and design cases in South Africa and internationally. Collectively, Darren has conducted technical and legal work for a number of clients across a spectrum of industries, including the pharmaceutical, petrochemical, electronics, explosives, cosmetics, weapons and telecommunications industries, amongst others. Clients served include, amongst others:
- the CAVI Group of Companies
- Golden Lions Rugby Union
- PriceWaterhouseCoopers
- the Ascendis Health Group
- Tenova Pyromet
- Deloitte & Touche
- the
Group of Companies - Centurion Systems
- EY Advisory Services
