Spoor & Fisher

Patent Chemical

Dirk Hanekom is a Patent Attorney and has MSc (Chem) and LLB cum laude degrees. He is an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.

Dirk has over a decade of experience in domestic and international patent matters. He specialises in the preparation and prosecution of applications relating to pharmaceutical inventions, including novel compounds, formulations and manufacturing techniques; and other general chemical technologies including petrochemicals, catalysts, polymer chemistry, pesticides, rubber and general consumer goods. Dirk also advises clients on regulatory issues relating to these technology areas.

He has extensive experience in conducting freedom to operate investigations in South Africa and the rest of the African continent.

Dirk obtained a Master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Stellenbosch in 2006, and started working in R&D for a leading complementary health product company in the same year. Studying law part-time, Dirk joined Spoor & Fisher as an article clerk in 2009, and obtained his LLB (cum laude) from the University of South African in 2011. He was admitted as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa in September 2011, and was admitted as a Patent Attorney in December 2013. Dirk was made a partner of Spoor & Fisher in March 2016.

Professional activities

Contributor of Patents and Designs for the Thomson Reuters IP Global Guide: South Africa, 2018.

Guest lecturer of IP short course: Stellenbosch University, 2015-present.

Guest lecturer on IP Law: Nelson Mandela University, 2019.

Speaker at World IP Day Conference Shanghai, 2019.

Speaker at SARIMA Conference, 2015-2016

English, Afrikaans

Associate member of the Corporate Counsel Association of South Africa (CCASA).

Fellow of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law (SAIIPL).

Member of the Southern African Research and Innovation Management Association (SARIMA).

Member of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI). Member – Legal Practice Council (LPC)

MSc (Chemistry), LLB (cum laude). Patent Attorney, Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.

Long distance running, deep sea fishing, visiting wine farms in the Cape wine region, and spending time with his young family