John Foster
Partner, Spoor & Fisher, Cape Town
j.foster@spoor.com 
+ 27 21 673 4441 
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John Foster is a Trade Mark Attorney with BCom (Law) and LLB degrees. He is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
John specialises in domestic and foreign trade mark prosecution and trade mark, copyright and unlawful competition litigation. This includes trade mark oppositions, trade mark and copyright infringement claims, domain name disputes and company name objections.
John has a keen interest in advertising law and has been involved in numerous litigious matters before various advertising regulatory bodies, in South Africa and various African countries. He regularly provides advertising pre-clearance advice to a number of multinational companies.
John also deals with commercial IP transactions, licensing arrangements and due diligence investigations.
Industry Associations
- Fellow – South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL)
- Member – Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA)
- Chair – International Trade Mark Association (INTA) Famous & Well-Known Trademarks Social Media Subcommittee
- Co-Chair – INTA Global Advisory Council: Africa (2024/2025)
- Member – INTA Leadership Development Committee (2024/2025)
- Member – Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA)
- Member – Legal Practice Council (LPC)
Market Recognition
- Listed – WTR1000: Trade Mark Enforcement and Litigation, 2019-2021
- Rising Star to Watch – Managing Intellectual Property IP Stars, 2017, 2020-2021
Professional Activities
- Co-author of the Unlawful Competition chapter in Dean & Dyer: Introduction to Intellectual Property Law (Oxford University Press), 2014
- Co-author of the Sponsorship and Marketing Agreements chapter in International Business Transactions (Kluwer Law), 2016, 2018
- Contributor to Thomson Reuter IP in Business Transactions Global Guide – South Africa, 2017
- Contributor to Lexology: Trade Marks Navigator, 2017
- Contributor to Trademarks in Getting the Deal Through, 2020
- Writer of numerous articles for industry publications, including Without Prejudice, World Trademark Review, and Business Law & Tax Review
- Guest lecturer IP LLM and IP short course: Stellenbosch University
- Regular speaker at industry conferences, seminars and tertiary institutions
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