University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Faculty of Law invites you to attend the inaugural Jill McKeough Lecture. This annual lecture series recognises the ongoing contributions of Emerita Professor McKeough, former Dean of UTS Law, Chair of the Council of Australian Law Deans and law reform commissioner, as a pioneer of Australian intellectual property scholarship and teaching.

Please join us from 5.30pm for drinks and light refreshments prior to the lecture commencement at 6.00pm. The 2025 lecture will be delivered by Professor Leanne Wiseman.

“In everything and everywhere: new challenges for IP”

Over two decades has passed since IP was described as “ubiquitous” and “omnipresent” with the question being asked “need intellectual property be everywhere?” It is timely to reflect on the continued proliferation of IP rights, particularly copyright and its technical adjuncts, and assess how, or if, IP policy has sufficiently addressed this ubiquity by ensuring IP limitations, defences and exceptions have kept pace.

Unsurprisingly, the well-rehearsed and polarising debates between IP owners and users about the role and appropriateness of IP continue but now more than ever, IP is in everything and everywhere. Global and powerful IP rightsholders are exploiting their IP in new ways that impact and undermine not only the rights of consumers, businesses and industries but also creating serious barriers to open and fair competition. With the global climate crisis forcing many countries, including Australia, to accelerate their transition to a more sustainable and circular economy, the role that IP can or should be playing in enabling this needs closer attention.

How should these challenges be addressed through IP regulatory and policy reform? It is time that IP policy be aligned with consumer, competition and environmental policies to ensure that the increasingly expansive economic rights granted by IP can explicitly support both environmental and social sustainability objectives.

Professor Wiseman is an ARC Future Fellow and Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Griffith University. Leanne is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research lies at the intersections of IP law and digital technologies, with particular attention to balancing IP rights with genuine access to information. She is recognised for high quality, interdisciplinary, policy relevant and impactful research that addresses critical questions about the role that IP plays in hindering or enabling access to new digital technologies.

Event access is restricted to guests who are 18 years or older, or under the supervision of a parent or guardian.

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