PRESENTERS

Prof Owen H Dean

Chair of Intellectual Property

Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University

Prof Gerhard F Lubbe

Dean

Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University

Prof H Russel Botman

Rector and Vice Chancellor

Stellenbosch University

Dr Rob Davies

Pretoria, South Africa

Dr Davies is the Minister of Trade and Industry of the Republic of South Africa and a Member of Parliament since 1994. He holds an Honours degree in Economics, a Masters degree in International Relations from the University of South Hampton and a Doctorate degree in Political Studies from the University of Sussex.

Dr Davies is a Professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Southern African Studies at the University of the Western Cape and member of the South African Ministerial delegation to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Mr António Serge de Pinho Campinos

Alicante, Spain

António Campinos took over as President of OHIM on 1 October 2010.  A 42-year-old Portuguese national, after studying law at the University of Montpellier he worked in the Court of First Instance and then banking before moving to the public sector, becoming head of the National Institute of Industrial Property in Portugal in 2005. 

Mr Campinos has been closely associated with OHIM for a number of years and is a former Chairman of the Administrative Board where he strongly advocated greater openness and transparency, including the involvement of user groups as observers.

Mr Xuemin Chen

Beijing, China

Xuemin Chen is a partner at Zhongzi Law Office, Beijing. His intellectual property law practice encompasses trademark, geographic indication (GI), unfair competition, domain name and online IP protection, copyright and related rights. He is a co-author of the books "Trademark Law and Practice" and “Famous and Well-known Mark – An International Analysis”. He has been listed as a “World’s Leading Trademark Law Practitioners” and was named an expert on intellectual property by (China) National Intellectual Property Strategies Office [NIPSO] in August 2005. He served on the Board of International Trademark Association (INTA) (2003-2005) and chaired INTA’s China Subcommittee and China Trademark Office Practice Subcommittee from 2004 to 2009. He is a fellow at the Intellectual Property School of Peking University.

Xuemin Chen provides pro bono service to the Shaolin Temple. He is a co-founder and director of Teacher of Ten-Thousand-Generation Foundation, a Hong Kong based charity providing assistance to underprivileged children in south China.

Prof Charles Gielen

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Professor Charles Gielen PhD (born on 15 March 1947) holds a law degree from the Catholic University of Brabant in Tilburg and a doctorate degree from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

He is a partner of the Dutch law firm NautaDutilh and works in their Amsterdam office. He is professor of Intellectual Property law at the University of Groningen. He has published several books and articles on subjects involving intellectual property law (in particular patent and trademark law) and is a member of editorial boards responsible for publishing law reviews on intellectual property and competition law such as the European Intellectual Property Review, the European Trademark Reports and "Intellectuele Eigendom & Reclamerecht". He is also member of the standing advisory committee to the Dutch government on trademark and design law.

He is past-President of the “Vereniging voor Intellectuele Eigendom”, the Dutch group of the International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (AIPPI) and forms part of the Executive Committee of this Association. He chairs the Program Committee of AIPPI and is past co-chairman of the Working Committee of Q 114 (Biotechnology including plant breeders rights). He is past member of the Board of Directors and its Executive Committee of the International Trademark Association (INTA; www.inta.org). He is also past President of the International League of Competition Law (LIDC). He is member of the Board of the anti-counterfeiting organisation SNB-REACT in Amsterdam.

He received INTA’s President Award for outstanding service to the International Trademark Association. In 2007 the Council of Presidents of AIPPI appointed him Member of Honour of AIPPI for outstanding contributions to and an extraordinary engagement for the fulfilment of the aims of the Association. In 2009 he was appointed Member of Honour of the Vereniging voor Intellectuele Eigendom.

By Royal Decree by Her Majesty the Queen of The Netherlands, on April 29, 2011 prof. Charles Gielen was appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. This royal decoration was awarded to him for his service to the international intellectual property community as well as for his activities for the community, such as The Maritime Museum in Amsterdam.

Adv Philip Ginsburg

Sandton, South Africa

Philip Ginsburg is a Senior Council Member of Group One, Sandown Village. He was admitted to the Bar in 1975 and took silk in 1990. His practice includes intellectual property (patents, trade marks and copyright), income tax, unlawful competition law, exchange control and administrative law.

Mr Daniel R Bereskin

Toronto, Canada

Daniel R. Bereskin, Q.C., is a founding partner of Bereskin & Parr LLP and author of numerous articles on intellectual property law subjects. He was named the “Leading Trade Mark Lawyer in the World” by Who’s Who Legal for five consecutive years 2006-2010. Mr. Bereskin has served as Legal Counsel to the International Trademark Association and as a member of the INTA Board of Directors. In 2004, he received the INTA President’s Award and in 2007 the World Leaders International Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hon. Judge Louis TC Harms

Bloemfontein, South Africa

Louis Harms is Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa and Chair of the Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property

Mr Don MacRobert

Johannesburg, South Africa

Don MacRobert is a consultant at ENS (Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs) and has over 28 years experience. He currently practices in the intellectual property department. He specialises in the registration and protection of trademarks, copyright issues as well as passing off.

He has acted for the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Nelson Mandela himself on matters requiring litigation. Don’s practice experience includes serving on several Stock Exchange listed companies. He has also pioneered initiatives in education, which includes the creation of an outreach programme through St Alban’s College during his years as Chairman of the Governing Board Management Committee. He set up the Get Ahead Foundation (a job creation, micro credit programme and training initiative), alongside fellow directors Dr Nthato Motlana and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Don was Founder Chairman of the Lawyers for Human Rights movement in Pretoria, and is past president of the Pretoria Chamber of Commerce and the South African Licensing Executive Society. He has served on various ASSOCOM sub-committees as well as the Credit Committee of Investec. He now serves on the Credit Committee of the Industrial Development Corporation and the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Don has received the Paul Harris Award from the Rotary International group as well as the St Michael’s Award.

Dr Frederick Mostert

London, England

Dr Mostert is the Chief Legal Counsel of Richemont, and the Past President of the International Trademark Association.  He is the principal author of “Famous and Well-Known Marks” and a number of other books and articles on International intellectual property.

He is a guest professor at Peking University, a visiting professor at University College London and a Fellow at the London School of Economics. He serves on the advisory board of the McCarthy Centre for intellectual property and Technology Law in San Francisco.

He is a member of the New York Bar, a Solicitor of England and Wales and has practised corporate law at Shearman and Sterling and Intellectual Property Law at Fross, Zelnick, Lehrman and Zissu in New York.

Ms Helen Newman

London, England

Helen Newman is a Partner in the Intellectual Property Team at Olswang LLP and is based in London. 

Helen advises on a wide range of non-contentious and contentious intellectual property matters with particular emphasis on the protection, enforcement and management of brands and related rights in the UK and internationally.  Helen’s experience includes advising clients on strategic issues affecting  the structure, exploitation and enforcement of portfolios of trade marks, design rights and  copyright as well as conducting litigation and managing pan-European litigation programmes. 

Mr Jay Monahan

San Francisco, California, United States of America

Jay Monahan is the former Chief Intellectual Property Counsel of Disney Inc. in Los Angeles and the former Chief Intellectual Property Counsel of E-Bay during its start-up phase.  He is the creator and originator of the VERO programme – the first of its kind for any marketplace platform.  He is a leading expert worldwide on intermediate liability.

Jay was the instructing Counsel in the landmark decision of Tiffany v E-Bay which was won at all levels of appeal.

Jay is also the former general Counsel of Vuze – a bits torrent company.  He is currently Deputy General Counsel of Zynga Game Network Inc.  Jay is a leading IP force in both Silicon Valley and the US.

Ms Tshepo Shabangu

Johannesburg, South Africa

Tshepo Shabangu  is a partner in Spoor & Fisher and President of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law

Tshepo is a board member of the Board of Control of LSSA (UNISA Distance Learning), a member of the ad hoc ethics committee of the LSSA, and a member of the Black Lawyers’ Association.

Mr Peter Dirk Siemsen

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Peter Dirk Siemsen is a lawyer, industrial property agent and partner of Dannemann, Siemsen, Bigler & Ipanema Moreira and Dannemann Siemsen Advogados. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, graduated at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro and admitted to the Brazilian Bar in 1955.

Mr Siemsen is founder and President of Honour of the Brazilian Intellectual Property Association (Associação Brasileira da Propriedade Intelectual - ABPI) and of the Asociación Interamericana de la Propriedad Industrial - ASIPI. He is a Member of Honour of the Brazilian Industrial Property Agents Association (Associação Brasileira dos Agentes da Propriedade Industrial - ABAPI), Member of Honour and ex-president of the Association Internationale pour la Protection de la Propriété Intellectuelle - AIPPI (president from 1995 to 1998) and Member of Honour of the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI).

He is also a member of The Institute of Brazilian Attorneys (Instituto dos Advogados Brasileiros - IAB), the International Trademark Association (INTA), The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA), The Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (ITMA), The Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC); The American Bar Association (ABA); The Inter-American Bar Association (IABA); Deutsche Vereinigung fuer Gewerblichen Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht (GRUR), The International Chamber of Commerce - ICC (Brazilian Section), Ligue Internationale du Droit de la Concurrence (LIDC); The European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA), The Association of European Trade Mark Owners (MARQUES), The International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP), The Licensing Executives Society (LES), Member of the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce of Rio de Janeiro, The International Bar Association (IBA) and The Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).

He is also the vice-chair of the commission on intellectual property of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), panellist of the Arbitration and Mediation Center of WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) and arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Peter is recipient of the INTA's 2004 President's Award, which recognises achievements over a career of service to INTA and the trademark community.

Decorated with the Ordem do Mérito Naval's medal, awarded by the Brazilian Navy.

He is the author of various articles published on industrial property and transfer of technology in Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Japan, Spain, Hungary and the US and has lectured in many countries, including the US.

Ms Louise van Greunen

Geneva, Switzerland

Ms. Louise van Greunen, admitted as Advocate of the Supreme Court of South Africa, joined the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in 1996. Prior to her appointment to WIPO, Ms. Van Greunen was a public prosecutor in the criminal courts;  lectured law;  and was the Registrar of Patents, Trademarks, Copyright and Designs of South Africa. 

Besides administering the office, she was also hearing officer at the Tribunal of the Register of Trademarks, where she had the judicial competence of a single judge.  She joined WIPO as Senior Legal Counselor assisting requesting English-speaking developing countries to adopt TRIPS compliant legislation. 

She was the Deputy Director of the WIPO Enforcement and Special Projects Division since 2002.  In early 2010 she was appointed Director of the same Division, but now known as the Building Respect for IP Division.