Skip to main content

Meet Leonard Cousins: Grid Personality, IP Attorney, Outdoor Enthusiast and Barry Manilow Fan

General

Meet Leonard Cousins: Grid Personality, IP Attorney, Outdoor Enthusiast and Barry Manilow Fan

By August 19, 2015No Comments

CM: So Leonard, Tell us what do you do? 

LC: “I write the patents that make the whole world sing
I write the patents of love and special things
I write the patents that make the young girls cry
I write the patents, I write the patents” 

(Or, in non-Barry Manilow speak) I am a Patent & Trade Mark Attorney. I help businesses leverage opportunity and manage risk in the realm of intellectual property.

 

CM: What is the best piece of advice you could give start ups around security of IP?

LC: Make informed decisions on IP at the right time- any decision is better than putting it off until too late. Make sure you really own all the IP you are selling with your product, AND make sure you can commercialise your product without liability in IP infringement.

 

CM: Globally, what are the most interesting IP cases you have come across?
 

LC: The most interesting cases I have seen involve real technology or product breakthroughs originating in NZ.

 

CM: Tell us about YOUR most interesting case.

LC: Most interesting case is always with the most interesting people, so probably the Inductive Power Technology at The University of Auckland. These guys have led the world in developing systems to transmit electric power efficiently across air gaps without using wires (especially useful for electric car charging), and the technology has been licensed to various companies in the US, Japan and NZ.  Clever folk are the people working on that stuff.

 

CM: Ok now for my favourite kind of questions. What would your ideal weekend entail?

LC: Skiing, tramping, spearfishing.

 

CM: Favourite place in the world? 

Tongariro National Park

LC: I started off going skiing there, then tramping in the totara forests when the ski-fields were closed. Sometimes I’ll stay in the huts and sometimes just camp under a tarp. One day the sunset made the mountain actually pink and I just decided it was the most beautiful place I have ever been. 

*Disclaimer: I’ve since seen better but I’m staying loyal to Tongariro.

CM: Seeing as we are all so animal mad here at Grid…Whats your spirit animal and why?

LC: Oh a penguin for sure: those little birds swim a hundred kilometres a day dodging polar bears and they just keep smiling!

CM: Why do you love Grid (this one can be as long as you want)

LC: The staff. Nuff said. 

CM: Naw shucks. Well played sir. Lastly, whats in your headphones right now. 

LC: White Snake by Boris Brechja