Stephen O'Brien
Partner

Stephen is a Partner at Madderns and is based in Adelaide, assisting clients around Australia and across the globe. His speciality is working with innovative companies to assist them with IP-related commercialisation activities, including helping to identify and protect technological innovations in Australia and overseas. He has significant experience in helping clients resolve IP disputes, including representing clients in patent opposition proceedings heard by the Australian Patent Office.

Stephen’s technical expertise enables him to assist innovators in fields including agtech, defence, medical technology and sports technology. His breadth of technical and project management experience, gained from more than a decade of involvement with major defence projects (at BAE Systems and DSTO), means he is well-placed to advise industry on a broad range of commercialisation considerations relating to IP protection.

Stephen entered the intellectual property field in 2000 and has been registered as a Patent Attorney in Australia and New Zealand since 2003. Since 2019 he has been ranked annually in Australia’s “IAM Patent 1000”.

Stephen works closely with a broad range of clients ranging from SMEs to multinational telecommunications companies. However, he has a particular interest in advising Australian startups on how to identify and exploit commercialisation opportunities associated with technological developments from an IP perspective, as well as the associated development and management of patent strategies to maximise the value of their IP.

Stephen is an active contributor to the Australian startup ecosystem as a mentor on various accelerator programs including Startupbootcamp, Techstars Startup Weekend Australia, Flinders University’s NVI Venture Dorm, FOMENT Wine and Tourism Technology Accelerator and the ANU’s InnovateACT.