The legal landscape around funding incentives, copyright, and AI is rapidly evolving. One year on from major reforms to the Producer Offset and Division 376, it is essential to be across updated QAPE assessments, recent AAT appeals, and the changing role of Screen Australia. At the same time, the rise of generative AI is prompting a re-evaluation of copyright law and regulatory frameworks in Australia and globally. This program will also address key developments in cultural rights and workforce trends. Be prepared for the introduction of ICIP legislation, significant shifts in the engagement of crew and talent, and the complex legal issues surrounding DGR-endorsed cultural organisations, including governance, tax, and contractual considerations. You will gain insights from senior legal professionals and industry leaders to equip you to provide informed, strategic advice in an area of law undergoing substantial and ongoing transformation.

Presenters

Ian Robertson AO, Partner and Chair, Holding Redlich
Ian Robertson is a corporate, commercial, media and regulatory lawyer who heads the media and entertainment practice of national law firm Holding Redlich. He is also the Chair of Holding Redlich. He became a partner of Holding Redlich in Melbourne in 1990 and established the firm's Sydney office in 1994. Ian has held a number of public and private sector Board appointments including President of the Board of the Victorian Government screen agency, Film Victoria, Deputy Chair of the Australian Government screen agency, Screen Australia, board member of the Australian Broadcasting Authority, director and Chair of Ausfilm, director and Deputy Chair of Film Australia Limited, and director of the ASX-listed screen production and distribution group, Beyond International Limited. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Ian was actively involved in discussions with Department officials, Ministers and their staff which led to the implementation of the Location, Producer and PDV Offsets.

Janine Lapworth, Legal Consultant
Janine Lapworth is a Senior Consultant with extensive experience in corporate, commercial, intellectual property, and entertainment law. She has worked at national and international law firms, as well as in senior in-house legal positions at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and ESPN Star Sports. Janine advises a diverse range of clients, including international studios, industry groups, tech start-ups, and creative businesses, focusing on areas such as television production, distribution, publishing, and general IP contracting.

Rebecca Dunn, Partner, Gilbert + Tobin
Rebecca is a partner in Gilbert + Tobin’s Tech & IP group and an experienced litigator in intellectual property and media law. She specialises in copyright, defamation, trade mark litigation, and Australian Consumer Law, with particular expertise in the online space. Her enforcement work spans national and international clients in the film and music industries, and she has litigated in the Supreme and Federal Courts, including at the High Court of Australia. Rebecca serves as President of the Communications and Media Law Alliance and is a member of several professional societies. She holds a Bachelor of Law (First Class Honours) from the University of Sydney, a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Newcastle, and a Master of Research focused on social media law and democracy.

Dr Louise Buckingham, CEO, Arts Law
Louise Buckingham is the CEO of the Arts Law Centre of Australia. She is a lawyer and academic who has specialised in intellectual property and human rights and worked in commercial and in-house roles across the corporate and not-for-profit sectors in Sydney, London and California (beginning at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Sydney, and most recently in the award-winning Tech + IP and Innovation teams at Gilbert + Tobin with several years as the Senior Lawyer at the Australian Copyright Council and an editor of the Copyright Reporter along the way). She is committed to the arts and creators’ rights, and lectures in NSW IP and cultural heritage and ‘art law’ in law, arts and science faculties. Louise has a PhD (Faculty of Law Award for Excellence), UNSW; an MSC from the London School of Economics, and an LLM and BA(Hons)/LLB(Hons) from the University of Sydney and was admitted to practice in NSW in 2000 and in England and Wales in 2005. She is a committee member (NSW) of IPSANZ and the Trans-Tasman Copyright committee, and is a participant member of Australasian Intellectual Property Academics, and IP Teachers conferences.


Sophie Dawson, Partner, Johnson Winter Slattery
Sophie is a Media, Entertainment and Technology partner with extensive intellectual property, privacy and disputes experience. Sophie’s copyright experience includes acting for Nine Entertainment in litigation in which it successfully resisted an interlocutory injunction application by another media organisation in relation to a reality television cooking show, acting for two of the world’s leading computer games companies in relation to authorisation by modders of copyright infringement by end-users of popular computer games. She has also acted for IT companies in relation to strategic intellectual property issues arising in contentious matters. Sophie also acted for Samsung in relation to its 3G Telephony patent claim against Apple. Sophie is recognised as a leading TMT: Media lawyer in directories including Legal500 and Chambers AsiaPacific. She is co-author of Thomson Reuter’s Media & Internet Law & Practice and is a member of the advisory board of the UTS Centre for Media Transition.

Janine Pearce, Principal, JP Media Law
Janine practiced in the areas of tax, securities and mergers+acquisitions for 6 years at the New York and Tokyo offices of Cleary Gottlieb. Thereafter, she worked at Showtime Networks in New York, where she managed television distribution contracts and advised on advertising, antitrust, copyright and trademark law. In 1998, she moved to Australia and worked at the Film Finance Corporation (predecessor to Screen Australia) in Sydney advising on investments in feature films and television drama until 2006. She subsequently joined an entertainment boutique firm helmed by Nina Stevenson. Since 2008 she has operated a sole practice, JP Media Law + Consulting, where she represents creators, financiers and producers and advises on all aspects of contract and copyright law, financing and distribution. She is qualified to practice in Australia and the United States. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor degree from Columbia University School of Law.

Jake Blundell, Partner, Banki Haddock Fiora
Jake specialises in media law and defamation, acting for a number of news media organisations and broadcasters. Jake has represented media organisations, including Nine Entertainment, in relation to non-publication and suppression order matters and applications seeking media access to court documents. Jake has been involved in defamation litigation in a range of jurisdictions, from the NSW District Court to the High Court of Australia. He also played a central role in coordinating Banki Haddock Fiora’s submissions in relation to the recent defamation law reform process, and the NSW Law Reform Commission’s ongoing review of the legislative provisions relating to access to court documents, closed court procedures, suppression and non-publication orders. Jake has also advised clients in the technology, film, television, and music industries and not-for-profits in relation to reputational, structuring, corporate and commercial matters. Jake is a member of the board of PACT Centre for Emerging Artists.

Kevin Lynch, Partner, Johnson Winter Slattery
Kevin has over twenty years’ experience in advising media and technology companies in relation to defamation, contempt, privacy, legislative restrictions, broadcast regulation, copyright, contractual matters and trade practices. With the JWS team Kevin provides dedicated defamation and pre-publication advice to prominent online, radio and television clients, including multinational media distributors and publishers. The 2020 edition of the Asia Pacific Legal 500 lists Kevin listed as a leading individual in media and entertainment where he is described as “a valued adviser, bringing exceptional experience, grounded assessment of claims and commercially-based advice across a range of specialised areas”. Chambers and Partners ranks Kevin as a notable practitioner – “an experienced and extremely capable lawyer who takes a very commercial approach to his matters”.

Zoe Angus, Director Of Industrial, Screen Producers Australia
Zoe Angus is the Director of Industry and Commercial at Screen Producers Australia and is responsible for SPA's industrial negotiations as well as providing advice to SPA members on commercial and industrial matters. Zoe previously held the role of National Director of Equity at the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance for six years and has more than two decades experience in employment law and industrial relations. She holds Juris Doctor and Master of Commerce (Honours) degrees from Melbourne University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Queensland University.

Professor Mimi Zou, Head of School of Private and Commercial Law, Faculty of Law and Justice, UNSW Sydney
Her research focuses on private & commercial law issues arising from AI and blockchain and the regulation of these new technologies. Prior to joining UNSW, she held senior positions at top universities worldwide, including the Chair in Commercial Law at the University of Exeter, UK and the first-ever Fellowship in Chinese Law at the University of Oxford. She also founded and led Oxford’s first lawtech research and innovation lab. She received the Global Australian Award for Technology in 2024.

Greg Duffy, Partner, Frankel Lawyers
Greg Duffy started as an employed Solicitor with Michael Frankel & Co. Solicitors in 1993. With the inception of Frankel Lawyers he commenced as a Partner with Michael Frankel and Raena Lea-Shannon in 2005. He specialises in Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law, particularly in the areas of Film, Television, Literature, Theatre, New Media and Trademarks. Much of his time is spent on development agreements, financing, production and distribution related legal issues and he has a depth of experience in film, television, employment and defamation litigation in the Federal Court, the Supreme, District and Local Courts of New South Wales, and the Fair Work Commission of Australia.

Samantha Yorke, Authority Member, Australian Communications and Media Authority
Samantha is an accredited mediator, technology lawyer and policy advisor with over 24 years’ experience working within the digital media and technology sectors both in Europe and the Asia Pacific. Prior to being appointed as an ACMA Authority Member, she worked in Google’s Government Affairs and Public Policy team leading their privacy, online safety, scam and mis/disinformation efforts in Australia. Sam established the regulatory function at the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Australia, worked as General Counsel AUNZ and Legal Director for Yahoo! Asia Pacific and spent 10 years working for Microsoft in London where she supported the MSN business through a period of exponential growth and contributed to the launch of the Xbox gaming console across Europe.

Stephen Garofano, Director of Policy, Screen Producers Australia

Carolyn Lidgerwood, Authority Lead, Australian Communications and Media Authority
Carolyn Lidgerwood has worked in leading organisations for more than 30 years, specialising in broadcasting and data privacy law and compliance. Immediately prior to being appointed as an ACMA Authority Member, Carolyn was for 12 years the Head of Privacy at Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest mining and metals corporation. Carolyn managed Rio Tinto’s data privacy compliance program across its global operations (which included more than 50,000 employees across 35 countries). Carolyn was also General Counsel & Company Secretary at Southern Cross Media (then Australia’s largest regional commercial radio and commercial television broadcaster), and Special Counsel at Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers, where for more than 10 years she acted for clients in every part of the Australian broadcasting industry. In the early years of her career Carolyn worked at the former Australian Broadcasting Authority (joining the ABA on the same week that subscription television services commenced in Australia). Carolyn has been a board member of iappANZ, and has previously served on the Privacy Committee and the Media & Communications Committee of the Law Council of Australia. Carolyn holds honours degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Melbourne.