Marco van der Merwe
Partner, Spoor & Fisher, Pretoria
m.vdmerwe@spoor.com 
+ 27 12 676 1218 
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Marco van der Merwe is a Trade Mark Practitioner and head of the Trade Mark Department at Spoor & Fisher. He has BLC and LLB degrees from the University of Pretoria, as well as a Diploma in Labour Relations. Marco is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
For the past three decades, Marco has specialised in domestic trade mark registration, searches and maintenance, domestic and international copyright, information technology law, and domain name disputes. He is a specialist trade mark attorney with experience in computer-related litigation and information technology.
Industry Associations
- Fellow – South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL)
- Former Treasurer and Vice-President of SAIIPL
- Member – International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI)
- Former Treasurer of the Association of Pretoria Attorneys
- Speaker, Attendee and Contributor – International Trademark Association (INTA)
- Senior Domain Name Dispute Adjudicator – co.za domain space
- Member – Legal Practice Council (LPC)
Market Recognition
- Best Practice Award – Software Investigation and Audit: Microsoft, 1999
- Best article by a practising attorney – Domain names: De Rebus, 1998
- Listed – World Trade Review 1000, 2020-present
- Best Lawyers – Intellectual Property Law: South Africa, 2022 and 2023
- Best Lawyers – Information Technology Law: South Africa, 2022 and 2023
Professional Activities
- Co-author on trade marks – 3rd edition of The Law of South Africa (LexisNexis), 2019
- Co-author on trade marks – Dean & Dyer: Introduction to Intellectual Property Law (Oxford University Press), 2014
- Author of the chapter on computer contracts: Butterworths Forms and Precedents (LexisNexis), 2005
- Co-author of the chapter on contracting on the internet: Cyberlaw @ South Africa (Van Schaik), 2003
- Speaker on trade mark prosecution and its effect on litigation: The Circle Chambers of the Pretoria Bar, 2018
- Lecturer for LLB students: University of Pretoria, 2017
- Lecturer on copyright and art, for BA Fine Art: University of Pretoria, 2015
- Lecturer for LLM students: University of the Witwatersrand, 2013
- Lecturer on SA copyright law & practice, and SA trademark law & practice modules – SAIIPL
- Lecturer SAIIPL Trade Mark Practitioners final examination
- South African correspondent – Computer and Telecommunications Law Review (Sweet & Maxwell), 2001
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