Congratulations to three QUT students, Mark, Janani, and Romil, from the WIPO-QUT Master of Laws in Intellectual Property program who recently won the GC O'Donnell Copyright Essay Prize.
Mark Robert Dy, Janani Iyer, and Romil Mehta were selected by the panel of judges for their research essay, ‘Doing Business with Wizards, Spider-men, and Jedi Knights: Managing Intellectual Property and Fandom in the Experience Economy’. The essay was described as "riveting" and advocated for a tolerant commercial approach in responding to the infringing activity of fans of popular culture.
Dy recently attended the 19th Biennial Copyright Law & Practice Symposium 2019 in Sydney to receive the award on behalf of the team. He described the experience as "deeply enlightening" after listening to some of the most experienced copyright lawyers and academics from Australia and the world, which included Jane Ginsburg (Columbia Law School), Gao Hang (World Intellectual Property Organisation), Brian Carver (Google) and soon-to-be QUT Faculty of Law Executive Dean, Dan Hunter (currently Swinburne University of Technology).
The essay was originally a class assignment which the group developed into a broader and more comprehensive essay for the competition. The additional work proved to be an even greater learning and bonding experience for Dy, Iyer, and Mehta.
The GC O'Donnell Copyright Essay Prize 2019 consists of a certificate, a $3,500 cash award, and the publication of winning essay in the Copyright Reporter, the journal of the Copyright Society of Australia. The prize is administered by the Australian Copyright Council and the competition is in honour of the late Gustaf (Gus) Charles O’Donnell, author and founder of the Council and leading thinker on copyright law in Australia.
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