Elaine Bergenthuin

Elaine is a managing partner at De Beer Attorneys. Elaine has a wealth of experience in both prosecution and litigation of all forms of intellectual property. She is a qualified electronic engineer, a registered South African Patent Attorney and an Admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa. She has over 10 years of experience in the legal industry, both locally and abroad. Elaine spent a number of years working at a leading firm of Chartered and European patent attorneys in London. She has also acted on behalf of industry leaders in the ICT and telecommunication sectors in South Africa.

Contact Elaine:

Telephone: +27 (0) 21 286 1489

Email: elaine@debeerattorneys.com

Theo du Preez

Theo is a patent consultant at De Beer Attorneys. He is a practicing attorney of the High Court of South Africa and a Registered South African Patent Attorney. Theo qualified as a Chemical Engineer when he obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemistry) degree at the North West University, whereafter he worked in the chemical industry for 8 years before he obtained an LLB degree at the University of South Africa. Following which, Theo passed the Patent Examination Board Examinations to enable him to practice as a Patent Attorney. Theo is an accomplished patent attorney with more than 10 years Intellectual Property Law experience and a sound technical background which facilitates dealing and understanding complex technical inventions, often invented by engineers and researchers. Theo assists De Beer Attorneys with conducting patent subject matter, freedom to operate, proprietor and equivalent searches within his area of technical specialism; as well as drafting, preparing and filing of South African and foreign patent and design applications with specific focus on chemical and process related subject matter. Because of Theo’s engineering industry experience, he has recently drafted and prosecuted a number patent specifications relating to metallurgical and mechanical inventions.

Contact Theo:

Telephone: +27 (0) 21 100 4545

Email:  info@debeerattorneys.com

Abduraouph Kamaar

Abduraouph is an Associate and an Admitted Attorney in the Trademarks Department at De Beer Attorneys. Abduraouph worked at a large African intellectual property law firm in Cape Town before joining De Beer Attorneys. Here he gained extensive experience on the prosecution and enforcement of trademarks for some of South Africa’s industry leaders including Woolworths and Pick & Pay as well as prominent international brands such as BMW, Shimansky and the like. Abduraouph has also in the past assisted clients with unfair competition and advertising law matters and has heard matters before the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in South Africa.

Contact Abduraouph:

Telephone: +27 (0) 21 286 1489

Email: abduraouph@debeerattorneys.com

Nicki Coetzee

Nicki is a Senior Paralegal and the Head of Formalities at De Beer Attorneys. Nicki worked for many years in the UK at a large financial services company where she created a role for herself as Legal Secretary and Paralegal which played an integral part in the running of the in-house legal department and the company. She supported not only the London branch of the company, but also the head office in Ireland as well as the branch offices in Dubai, Hong Kong and Brazil. Before joining De Beer Attorneys, she worked as a Patent Secretary at another IP firm based in Cape Town. She is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives in the UK and holds a Level 3 Diploma in Law and Practice.

Contact Nicki:

Telephone: +27 (0) 21 286 1489

Email: nicki@debeerattorneys.com