Bruce
Caine KC
Bruce has specialised in intellectual property law for over 35 years. His central areas of expertise include patents, trade marks, copyright, confidential information, design law, circuit layouts and plant breeder’s rights, consumer protection and other commercial/equity matters. Bruce frequently appears for and advises major international clients drawn from the pharmaceutical, telecommunications and mining industries. He has appeared in some of Australia’s leading intellectual property cases. He has extensive experience in both trial and appellate work. He appears chiefly in the Federal Court. He also appears in the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Supreme Court of New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland as well as the High Court.
Bruce also appears before IP Australia in relation to patent and trade mark matters. He also conducts and appears at mediations.
Bruce has specialised in intellectual property law for over 35 years. His central areas of expertise include patents, trade marks, copyright, confidential information, consumer protection and other commercial/equity matters.
Bruce frequently appears for and advises major international clients drawn from the pharmaceutical, telecommunications and mining industries. He has appeared in some of Australia’s leading intellectual property cases.
He has extensive experience in both trial and appellate work. He appears chiefly in the Federal Court. He also appears in the Supreme Courts of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland as well as the High Court of Australia.
Bruce also appears before IP Australia in relation to patent and trade mark matters. He also conducts and appears at mediations.
Bruce was admitted to practice in 1982. Before coming to the Bar in 1985, he spent two years as the Associate to the Honourable Justice King who was the judge in charge of the Industrial Property List in the Supreme Court of Victoria. On coming to the Bar, Bruce read in the Chambers of Dr John Emmerson QC, one of Australia’s pre-eminent IP barristers.
Bruce was appointed as a silk in 2002.
Bruce is listed in both Doyle's Guide to Leading Victorian Intellectual Property Barristers (2022) and Doyle’s Guide to Leading Australian Intellectual Property Barristers (2022), as a pre-eminent senior counsel.
Bruce is listed in Chambers Intellectual Property: The Bar (2020) as a Band 1 practitioner. His review reads:
“Bruce Caine QC "absolutely deserves" his "very strong reputation" as one of Australia's leading IP barristers. Sources particularly emphasise his ability to "get across a lot of detail" and then present it in an easily digestible form, an attribute that makes him a particularly sought-after choice for trial work. He operates across the full IP spectrum, handling copyright and trade mark mandates in addition to the patent work for which he is especially well known.”
Bruce is also listed in the Legal 500 Asia-Pacific (2020) as a Leading Silk. His review reads:
“Outstanding senior IP barrister across patents, trade marks and copyright.”
Patents
Trade Marks/Consumer Protection
Copyright
Commercial/IP
*Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation *