Philip McCabe

Sadly, Philip died, surrounded by family and friends, in June 2021. He is sadly missed by clients and the members of the firm.

Of Counsel, Wellington

Qualifications

• LLB. (Victoria University of Wellington),
• Diplôme de Droit Compare´. (Strasbourg and Amsterdam)
• Registered Patent Attorney, Australia and New Zealand.

Work History

Philip Thomas McCabe is a native Wellingtonian and a citizen of both New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland.

In 1975 he was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand and registered as a Patent Attorney and till 1995 was a partner in the patent attorney firm West-Walker McCabe and a principal in its associated general law firm McCabes Law Office. In 1995 he founded McCabe and Company, lawyers and patent attorneys and its associated company McCabe and Company Limited, who now have offices in both Wellington and Auckland.

Philip has spent over 45 years in the profession. He has acted for some of the world’s leading brands (Johnson + Johnson, others to follow) He is regarded as an expert in brand protection at home and abroad for New Zealand wine companies. He has been an examiner for the New Zealand Institute, setting and marking the exam qualification papers for registration as a patent attorney in New Zealand, and is a past editor of the profession’s publication The Patent Letter.

He is the editor of Sim's Court Manual on the High Court Rules (Patent Cases) and the author of the chapter on Registered Designs in the encyclopaedia Laws of New Zealand.

Memberships

• Council of the New Zealand Institute of Patent Attorneys; President 1985 and 1986;
• Council of the Wellington District Law Society
• Council of the New Zealand Law Society

He is a past or current member of LawAsia, the Asian Patent Attorneys Association, the International Trademark Association, The Association of European Advocates, FICPI, the Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia and a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Patent Attorneys. He is a past member of the Board of the New Zealand Futures Trust (Futures Thinking Aotearoa) and a former President of the Victoria University of Wellington Alumni Association.

He enjoys golf, walking, music and reading and occasionally but diligently pursues the lawyer's hobby of talking far too much.