Melinda Upton joins from Blakes, while Nicholas Tyacke joins from Clutz. Both lawyers will be based in DLA's Sydney office from early 2012.

Uptonhas experience advising local, regional and global companies on branding and rebranding strategies and maximising their IP portfolios, trade mark protection and enforcement, anti-counterfeiting, advertising and marketing, domain name disputes, social media, IP audits and due diligence.

Tyackeis a dual-qualified (Australian and US) specialist IP litigator who, having spent some years at US patent litigation law firm Fish & Neave, has experience litigating IP disputes in both jurisdictions.

Tyacke specialises in acting for local, regional and international clients with respect to all aspects of patent law, particularly in relation to patent disputes in the life sciences and technology sectors, as well as copyright and trade mark disputes, particularly in relation to the internet and high technology.

His clients have included Fortune 500 companies across pharmaceutical, biotechnology, information technology and engineering industries.

Tony Holland, the managing partner of DLA Piper Australia, said the businesses served by DLA's IP and life sciences groups are "by nature, globally focussed".

"Many of the issues they face are cross-border and require expert advice across multiple jurisdictions," said Holland.

Anthony Willis, joint group head of IPT Asia-Pacific, said he anticipated more appointment announcements in the future.

Globally, DLA Piper's IPT group comprises more than 400 lawyers, and its life sciences sector group comprises more than 250 lawyers.