SCHOLARSHIP, INTELLECTUAL OWNERSHIP AND THE LAW
Canberra, 15–16 July 1999
Speakers' abstracts
Professor Malcolm Gillies is President of the National Academies Forum, and also of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He chairs the Committee for Innovation in Scholarly Communications. Malcolm Gillies is a professor at the University of Queensland, with research interests in twentieth-century arts and culture.
Henrietta Fourmile has just completed two years with the United Nations Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, where she wasresponsible for the implementation of Article 8(j) and related provisions relevant to traditional knowledge, innovations and practices and customary law, traditional technology, access to benefit sharing and the conservation and sustainable management of biological diversity. She also initiated the integration of traditional knowledge systems within the thematic areas and worked in collaboration with other UN bodies and research agencies. She has undertaken extensive research work and publication in the areas of intellectual property regimes; cultural heritage and property; traditional biodiversity-related knowledge; and international law and indigenous peoples' rights. She has since taken up a position as Associate Professor – Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for Indigenous History and the Arts, University of Western Australia.
Ian David is one of Australia's most successful and respected screenwriters. Best known for his works Blue Murder and Joh's Jury, Ian has been the leading voice representing the interests of creators in the intense debate over the introduction of moral rights to Australia. He is a board member of the copyright society, Screenrights, and is President of the Collecting Society of the Australian Writers' Guild, AWGACS. A passionate and determined advocate for the rights of artists and creators generally, Ian is working towards the introduction of Status of the Artist legislation for Australia.
Dr Kay Daniels is General Manager of the Intellectual Property Branch in the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. She has worked in the Commonwealth Public Service since 1988 and been responsible for branches dealing with arts, heritage, cultural industries, telecommunications and multimedia. Prior to joining the public service she taught history at the University of Tasmania and chaired the Commonwealth's Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education. Kay retains an interest in writing and in historical research and her most recent book was published last year.
C.A.J. (Tony) Coady, BA (Syd), BPhil (Oxf), MA (Camb & Melb), is the Founding Director, Centre for Philosophy and Public Issues, at the University of Melbourne. He has also accepted a position as Australian Research Council Senior Research Fellow from 1998-2002. He has been a Visiting Lecturer or Visiting Fellow at numerous universities, including Oxford and Cambridge in the United Kingdom and Princeton University and the University of Maryland in the United States. His book Testimony: A Philosophical Inquiry was published by Oxford University Press in 1992. He also co-edited Business, Ethics and the Law, which was published by Federation Press in 1993.
Professor Sue Serjeantson is President-elect of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS) and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. As Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the ANU from 1994 to 1997, she was closely involved in the protection and commercialisation of intellectual property arising from ANU research. During this period she served as a Director of ANUTECH, the university's commercial arm.
Professor Peter Spearritt is foundation director of the National Centre for Australian Studies at Monash University. As an author representative on the Public Lending Right Committee for some years and as a broadcaster and author of commercial works, he has encountered copyright issues from the point of view of both the creator and the user.
Dr Colin Adam is a Deputy Chief Executive of CSIRO. His current responsibilities include oversight of the Minerals and Energy Sectors and of CSIRO's commercial activity. Dr Adam has a Bachelor of Metallurgical Engineering (Hons) degree and a PhD in Metallurgy, both from the University of Queensland where he is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture. He held several positions in New Zealand and the United States before working at CSIRO.
Dale Spender is the Deputy Chair of the Australian Society of Authors and a Director of the Copyright Agency (CAL). She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland, with an affiliation with UofQ cybrary. Dale is the author or editor of more than thirty books – almost all of which are out of print and provide no income (although they may have future IP potential). She now makes her living in the information economy; she is the creative director of Digital Style, a Learning Services company, which delivers online professional development for educators.
Mara Bun is Manager, Advocacy and Media, for the Australian Consumers Association. Her favourite policy area is the information society and the impact of new business models on consumers and public goods. Mara is Brazilian, educated in the United States, where she studied economics and business administration. She has worked for investment bank Morgan Stanley & Co., primarily in their Silicon Valley High Technology practice; for a World Bank disaster relief project in Nepal; and for Greenpeace Australia, where over four years she managed the finances and administration, always looking for creative ways to get arrested in direct actions. She came to Australia in 1991.
Dr John W Zillman is Director of the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology and Permanent Representative of Australia with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). He also chairs the Committee of Heads of Commonwealth Marine Agencies (HOMA). He was Vice President of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) from 1995-98 and represents the ATSE on the National Academies Forum. He is currently President of the WMO and has been deeply involved in international negotiations over the past decade on the free and unrestricted exchange of global environmental data.
Virginia Morrison is Acting Executive Officer of the Australian Copyright Council. She has degrees in Arts and Law from the University of New South Wales, and has served as a legal officer for the Council for four years. She has given lectures and conducted seminars on copyright around Australia, and provided legal advice and written papers, articles and publications on various aspects of copyright.
Annabelle Herd is a copyright policy lawyer and the Executive Officer of the Australian Digital Alliance, a unique coalition of public and private sector organisations and individuals formed in 1998 to promote balanced copyright law. Annabelle also advises the Australian Libraries Copyright Committee on copyright law and policy, formerly acted as the Copyright Research Officer for the Australian Council of Libraries and Information Services, and has done a brief stint as a government lawyer in the IP branch of the Attorney-General's Department. She has been involved in the copyright debate at both a domestic and international level, having represented Australian copyright users and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) at meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva and several international conferences.
Alex Byrne has been the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Information Resources) at the Northern Territory University since 1996 and was previously the University's Chief Librarian. He is the current chair of both the University Libraries Section of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and of the Federation's Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression, and member or chair of various library and information technology committees. He is a former President of the Council of Australian University Librarians.
Dianne Nicol is a solicitor and barrister at Dobson Mitchell & Allport in Hobart. Her practice includes intellectual property law. Dianne obtained a PhD in cell biology from Dalhousie University in Canada in 1987. She carried out Australian Research Council funded research in the Zoology Department of the University of Tasmania until 1992 when she commenced legal training. Since 1994 she has been involved in a research project involving a broad analysis of the legal and ethical implications of human genetic research in Australia. Dianne's focus has been on intellectual property and in 1997 she was awarded a Master of Laws for her thesis Patenting Human Genetic Material in Australia.
Dr Ron King is the Director of the Office for Research at Griffith University, with responsibilities for administering research policy, grants, postgraduate studies and business liaison. This role encompasses development of industry-funded research projects, research collaboration and linkages with external organisations, as well as the commercialisation of university intellectual property and management of the university's intellectual property portfolio. A new initiative is the development of research and commercial precincts for the university at its Gold Coast, Logan and Nathan campuses, involving both the private and public sectors.
Anne Trimmer is the leader of the National Technology Group at Deacons Graham & James. Her experience in information technology and intellectual property law spans many years advising government agencies, IT vendors, R & D companies and start-ups. In the intellectual property field, Anne has established joint ventures and collaborative arrangements for R & D corporations for a variety of entities, and has drafted and negotiated many intellectual property licences. She is a past President of the Licensing Executives Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Julian Land BSc(Hons), MSc, MBA is a Principal Commercial Adviser at CSIRO Corporate. His responsibilities cover commercial oversight of CSIRO's relationships with the Australian minerals and energy industry sector. He has fostered CSIRO's relationship with Queensland Metals Corporation over the past 10 years, and he is chairman of the Management Committee of the CSIRO/QMC Magnesium Metal Research Project. His career has also included periods at the Australian Atomic Energy Commission, AERE Harwell, and the Department of Science.
Mark Armstrong BA LLB (Syd) LLM (NSW) is Professor of Communications Law and Director of the Media and Telecommunications Policy Group at RMIT University. He has written and edited several media and communications books, including Broadcasting Law and Policy in Australia, Telecommunications Law: Australian Perspectives and Media Law in Australia. He was editor and principal author of Communications Law and Policy in Australia for 10 years. He is a member of the Victorian Premier's Multimedia Task Force and its advisory committee, and has chaired or been a member of various editorial boards and boards of communications organisations. He was previously Chair of the ABC Board, Chairman of the Broadcasting Council, and a full-time member of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal. He was a member of the Telecommunications Advisory Panel and the Copyright Convergence Group. He has pioneered legislative research in Australian communications over 25 years.