John Gray

Practice Areas

John is a senior corporate and commercial lawyer who has specialised in technology and intellectual property law for 30 years. He is a partner in the Corporate and Commercial team at Hall & Wilcox.

John advises clients on commercial transactions and legal disputes in the fields of IT, telecommunications and media. His expertise covers all the legal issues associated with the use of technology in business and government, including licensing, privacy and data protection, copyright, branding and e-payments.

Known for his hands-on and pragmatic approach, and his ability to find solutions to legal and commercial issues, John is a seasoned practitioner in the IT market and often acts for governments and financial institutions in relation to major IT projects.

He is widely recognised for his expertise, having been ranked in The Best Lawyers in Australia every year since 2009, being named Sydney's 'Lawyer of the Year' for Information Technology Law (2021 edition) and for Outsourcing Law (2018 edition). He is also a recommended lawyer in Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession in their 2019 list of Leading Technology, Media and Telecommunications Lawyers, and is a ranked lawyer in Chambers Asia-Pacific 2020 for TMT: Information Technology.

Professional Memberships

Law Society NSW

Communications and Media Lawyers Association (CAMLA)

Work Highlights

Advised Deluxe Small Business Sales, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NYSE-listed Deluxe Corporation, on the sale of all its shares in Hostopia Australia Holding Co Pty Ltd to Newfold Digital, Inc.

Acting for an unlisted Australian property fund on the procurement of a major new IT system for the management of its extensive property portfolio.

Acting for both suppliers and consumers of non-cash payment services and related technology, including:

acting for a major Australian bank in relation to the procurement of the various computer systems behind the electronic payment services it offers to its merchant clients;

negotiating credit card, debit card and Apple Pay issuing agreements on behalf of banks and other financial institutions;

drafting and negotiating payment gateway services agreements for a new Australian payment services company; and

negotiating merchant acquiring and transaction processing agreements on behalf of a global service provider.

Acting for the NSW Government in numerous IT and telecommunications projects, including:

the negotiation of a large-scale software licensing transaction for Transport for NSW; and

the procurement of cloud services, computer systems and networks for the Department of Customer Service.

Advising Australia’s largest independent actuarial firm on intellectual property issues, including the methodologies it uses to perform data analytics and the rich data sets it owns and licenses.

Acting for a global insurance business on its Australian privacy obligations and in relation to transactions involving the white labelling of its insurance products.

On behalf of a listed healthcare solutions company, negotiating the contracts to purchase artificial intelligence technologies embedded within a pain assessment app.

Advising a New South Wales local council on its use of architectural concept designs for a community swimming centre, where the designs were submitted as part of a discontinued tendering process.

Advising a not-for-profit organisation on an agreement with the Federal Department of Human Services to provide counselling services for trauma victims, and the protection of its intellectual property rights in counselling manuals and training materials.

Securing trade mark protection for a dementia research foundation at the University of NSW.

Awards