Dr Owen Dean
Consultant , Spoor & Fisher, Cape Town
o.dean@spoor.com 
+ 27 21 673 4400 
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Dr Owen Dean is a Trade Mark Practitioner with BA (Law), LLB and LLD degrees. He is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and a Notary Public.
Owen has extensive experience over five decades in trade mark law. He now focuses on domestic trade mark law and litigation, domestic and international copyright, unlawful competition and passing off. An expert in anti-counterfeiting, he was instrumental in writing the SA Counterfeit Goods Act.
Owen consults to, and acts for various local and internationally listed companies, and has received numerous accolades for his achievements over the years. Owen was a partner of the firm for close to thirty years and served as the Chairman.
Industry Associations
- Member and past President – South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL)
- Member – European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA)
- Member – International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI)
- Member – International Trademark Association (INTA)
- Member – Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) and on IP Sub-Committee
- Member – Legal Practice Council (LPC)
Market Recognition
- President’s Certificate of Excellence – Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), 1985
- Certificate of Appreciation – Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT), 2009
- Special Achievement Presidential Award – SAIIPL, 2011
- Regularly rated in the highest categories of agencies, including Legal 500, World IP Review Leaders, Who’s Who Legal, Chambers & Partners, Best Lawyers
- Served on the State’s Standing Committee on IP Law, 1977-1999; chairman of the Copyright Subcommittee
- Best Lawyers – Intellectual Property Law: South Africa, 2008-2022
Professional Activities
- Appointed as a professor at Stellenbosch University, 2011
- Author of Awakening the Lion – The Case of the Lion Sleeps Tonight (Tafelberg), 2013
- Compiled and edited Dean & Dyer: Introduction to Intellectual Property Law (Oxford University Press), 2014
- Author of Handbook of South African Copyright Law (Juta), including annual updates, 1987-2015
- Author of Copyright in Butterworths’ Forms and Precedents (LexisNexis), 1991
- Guest lecturer on Trade Marks and Copyright at the top five universities in South Africa, over three decades
- Speaker at local and international conferences, including INTA and AIPPI, 1976-2018
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