Jowanna Conboye
Partner - Intellectual Property; Technology; Commercial
Jowanna is an expert intellectual property and information technology lawyer. She has over eight years’ experience advising organisations on the best ways to protect their intellectual property (IP) from creation through to exploitation. Jowanna works with businesses on their IP portfolios covering trade marks, copyright, design rights, and patents.
After training and qualifying at large regional firm Stevens & Bolton, Jowanna moved to join the large south-west firm Stephens Scown and became known for her practical approach and commercial knowledge. Whilst there she commenced her specialism in transactional IP. Jowanna’s expertise in this area covers the full range of IP from transfers and assignments of IP, licencing, collaboration agreements, joint ventures, marketing and sponsorship arrangements.
Jowanna takes pride in partnering with companies from start-ups and SMEs up to large multi-national corporations on projects such as bespoke software development including cross-border work, platform creation, software licencing, value-added reseller agreements, systems integration agreements and full IT outsourcing. She has particular expertise in agile working for software developers and reflecting this in their commercial agreements and business terms and conditions.
Jowanna has additional expertise in data protection. She has worked with some national names on complying with their data protection obligations, particularly around sub-contracting with data processors, and working with controllers on data sharing arrangements.
Jowanna is also a trusted advisor on high-value corporate deals, advising on the IP, IT and data protection aspects of mergers and acquisitions to ensure that clients’ brands and products are protected on transfer. She has a wealth of experience in advising on government and local authority contracts as well as procurement and funded projects.
Jowanna works with a wide range of organisations from tech companies, creative businesses, non-profit organisations including charities and social enterprises, healthcare businesses and suppliers to the NHS, boutique businesses in the beauty and luxury goods industries, hospitality, food and drink, and leisure and tourism.
Jowanna is recognised in the Legal 500 as a Key Lawyer in both “Intellectual Property” and “IT and Telecoms” sectors.
Recent experience
- Acting for a high-end jewellery designer on a luxury goods licence of trade marks and registered design rights to Japan.
- Negotiating the IP aspects of a multi-million pound manufacturing agreement with a famous confectionary company particularly around improvements to recipes and indemnities against IP infringement claims.
- Advising a large regional charity on a collaboration agreement with an education provider for a conservation project covering ownership of the project IP and compliance with Big Lottery funding.
- Successfully negotiating an agile software development agreement on behalf of an international client in the aviation services industry for creation of a new app to survey airline users.
- Advising a large regional landowner on a tripartite data sharing agreement with the local authority and a large utility company on the sharing of customer data under an government directive.
Jowanna Conboye discusses implications of European data breach case with Compliance Week
A recent decision by the Austrian Data Protection Authority against food retailer REWE International underlines the fact parent...
Press | Posted: 28 Jan 2022Jowanna Conboye comments on Europe’s approach to data protection
Compliance Week has reported on the failure of Europe’s wide-reaching data privacy rules to curb Big Tech’s use and abuse...
Press | Posted: 11 Jan 2022Intellectual Property partner Jowanna Conboye comments on IP in leading business magazine
Jowanna Conboye, an Intellectual Property, Technology and Commercial Partner with Spencer West, has shared her expertise with...
Press | Posted: 30 Nov 2021"What a great piece of advice, thank you"
"The great thing about working with Jowanna is she understood what we wanted. Turning agile into a legal framework was something we couldn’t do ourselves and we needed a really good solicitor to do that for us."
"Our new terms and conditions allow us to have a better relationship with clients because they can see how we work on a daily basis. Thank you."
Contact Details
Jurisdictions
Specialisms
Intellectual property, trade marks, copyright, designs, patents, assignments and licencing; information technology, agile, SaaS, PaaS, software development, end user licence agreements, outsourcing, commercial contracts, B2B, B2C, online sales and platforms, terms and conditions, HealthTech; data protection, GDPR, data processing agreements, data sharing agreements, processor/controller agreements.
Qualifications and Professional bodies
Career
- Stephens Scown LLP
- Stevens & Bolton LLP
This is an exciting time to be working in world of intellectual property and technology law. One of the best things about my job is I get to see exciting products and tech being developed by clients and try it first. My approach is to work collaboratively with you on the issues you face as a business and make sure your interests are protected. One client even said I’m a “human” lawyer, which I think is a compliment.