As organisations increasingly digitise, legal professionals face mounting pressure to deliver sophisticated IP counsel while navigating an ever-evolving technological landscape.
The Rising Demand for IP and Technology Expertise
Once considered niche areas of expertise, IP and IT have become essential capabilities across law firms of all sizes. “IP and Tech have become a standard department of a law firm now,” explains Gavin Adkins, Senior Lawyer Writer for Practical Law Australia. “There will be very few large firms that don’t have IP and Tech capability.”
The catalyst? Every business today engages in some type of technology contracting, and in a world driven by digital, a brand owner’s intellectual property can easily be disseminated far and wide, without their knowledge.
Organisations across industries require sophisticated legal guidance on licensing agreements, data rights, and intellectual property protection. As Adkins notes, “Really every business is doing some sort of tech contracting now, and those contracts are increasingly complicated.”
Emerging Challenges at the IP-Technology Nexus
The legal landscape reveals several critical pressure points where intellectual property and technology intersect, creating both challenges and opportunities for forward-thinking firms.
AI and Copyright: The Unresolved Frontier
Perhaps nowhere is this intersection more complex than in the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and copyright law. “There’s a lot of unresolved issues with copyright and how it relates to AI,” Adkins observes. While extensive litigation unfolds in Europe and the US, Australian practitioners are watching closely, expecting similar challenges to arrive.
The implications extend beyond theoretical legal questions. Companies are grappling with practical concerns: Can AI systems legally ingest copyrighted materials for training? Who owns the output? How do organisations protect their intellectual property while leveraging AI capabilities? These questions demand sophisticated legal guidance that bridge traditional IP expertise with an understanding of cutting-edge technologies.
The Protection of Trade Secrets
“With the difficulties regarding copyright and AI, companies are focusing on protecting their ‘11 secret herbs and spices’ by keeping them secret,” explains Adkins. This shift requires lawyers to understand both traditional trade secret law and modern digital security challenges.
The digital transformation of many organisations has made protecting a business’ intellectual property simultaneously more critical and more difficult. When employees, or anyone that has access to an organisation’s digital ecosystem, can download vast amounts of data and establish competing businesses with unprecedented ease, legal professionals need sophisticated strategies that combine IP law with cybersecurity awareness to protect their clients.
Trade mark Disputes in the Digital Age
The explosion of e-commerce and online business has created new battlegrounds for trade mark protection. “There’s been a spike in trade mark disputes,” Adkins notes, pointing to increased activity in online infringement, takedown notices, and brand protection challenges.
This digital shift means mid-tier firms now need to handle work that previously required specialist IP firms – with access to proper guidance and resources. The opportunity is significant: firms that access these capabilities can retain valuable work rather than referring it to specialists.
Introducing Practical Law’s IP & Technology Practice Area
Recognising these evolving needs, Thomson Reuters is launching a dedicated Intellectual Property & Technology practice area within Practical Law, bringing together two areas of expertise under expert editorial guidance.
Expert Leadership
“In 2025, we invested in our subscribers’ success by expanding our in-house team of legal experts and renewing our approach to working with expert contributors. This has enabled us to build out a significant volume of new content across two new practice areas and our existing practice areas, now available not only through our platform, but also through CoCounsel,” explains Tim Perry, director Practical Law Australia.
The practice area is led by Joanne Dunn and Gavin Adkins, both seasoned practitioners who understand the practical challenges facing legal professionals today.
Joanne Dunn is a dual-qualified lawyer and registered trade marks attorney with over 20 years of IP and commercial experience. Before joining Practical Law Australia, Joanne worked in private practice at top-tier and specialist IP firms and in-house. Her expertise spans IP, trade marks, domain names, copyright, technology and advertising and marketing. Joanne has a keen interest in the evolving landscape of AI and emerging technologies and IP, particularly copyright.
Adkins joins the team with 15 years of IP experience and qualifications as both a lawyer and patent attorney. His international perspective, gained through work in Japan and Australia, provides valuable insight into cross-border IP challenges. “There’s two growing areas for me,” he explains, highlighting both AI-copyright issues and trade secret protection as key practice developments.
Building Comprehensive Resources
The new practice area expands existing high-quality IP content while building out technology-specific guidance. This includes practical resources for technology contracting, licensing agreements, and the complex IP considerations that arise in digital transactions.
The goal extends beyond providing templates and precedents. “It’s a major expansion of Practical Law’s IP and Tech content ,” explains Adkins, ensuring legal professionals have comprehensive resources for these interconnected practice areas.
Positioning Your Practice for the Future
For legal professionals, the message is clear: IP and technology expertise is no longer optional. The question isn’t whether these areas will impact your business, but how quickly you’ll develop the capabilities to serve clients effectively.
The opportunity is particularly significant for mid-tier firms. With proper resources and guidance, and Practical Law’s expanded capabilities, these firms can handle sophisticated IP and technology work that clients might otherwise take to specialised organisations. This capability expansion can transform a practice’s service offering and competitive position.
As the legal landscape continues evolving, one thing remains certain: intellectual property and technology will only grow more complex and more critical to business success. The firms that invest in building these capabilities today will be the ones positioned to thrive tomorrow.
