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Mr. Samuel Adewusi Samuel
Adewusi, General Counsel, for African Artists Collaborative, Inc (AAC)
is a practicing attorney residing in Washington, D.C. He is a member
of the bar in the State of Maryland and District of Columbia. A
native of Nigeria, he is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
He graduated from the University of District of Columbia with BA
Political Science; and from District of Columbia School of Law with
Doctor of Jurisprudence. He is the president of Edgewood Technology
Advisory Board (eTAB) from 1999 till present. Also, he is the
president of Grace Rural Integrations Systems, Inc (GRIS) since
2001. Both eTAB and GRIS are non-profit organizations. In addition,
he is the Executive Director of both RySa Group, LLC, a Maryland
corporation, and Brasacor Global Resources, Nigeria Limited.
Ms. Claudia Fernandini
Director General of Clarke Modet & C° Peru, and founder of
Fernandini Abogados, currently Clarke Modet & C° Peru.
Ms. Fernandini’s responsibilities include the general
administration of the company, strategy and management of intangible
assets, litigation, unfair competition, licences, Internet,
advertising and consumer defense, among others related to management
of intangible assets in Peru and abroad. Her recent accomplishments
include:
Consultant for the geographical indication recognition of the
Chulucanas ceramic; Consultant for the legal framework of the
Information System of the In Situ Project for conservation of
agrobiodiversity (In Situ Project); Participant in session of the
National Group of Agrobiodiversity to identify the Central Problem
of Peruvian Agrobiodiversity (April, July 2006); Participant in
session to Validate the National Science and Technology Program in
Medicinal, Nutraceutic and similar plants.
Participant in session to validate the proposal for continuation
of the In Situ project. (june 2006); Legal consultant for the
geographical indication recognition of the Giant White Corn of
Cusco.
Professional experience:
Procter & Gamble Peru, company with which she maintains a long
lasting relationship, as a client both for trademarks and patents;
Worked in Venezuela, where she handled all facets of Intellectual
Property, specializing in the Andean Community, including filing and
prosecution of applications, preparing and filing of oppositions and
appeals, nullity actions, cancellations, renewals, licenses,
assignments, etc.; Moved from Venezuela to Peru to start Fernandini
Abogados en Peru; Main shareholder and founding partner of
Fernandini Abogados; When the company merged with the Clarke Modet
group, she remained as Director General of the company Clarke Modet
& Co. Peru.
Dr. Christine Farley
Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
Dr. Farley teaches courses in Intellectual Property Law, U.S.
Trademark Law, International and Comparative Trademark Law, and Law
and the Visual Arts. In addition, she serves as Co-Director of the
Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property. Beginning
in January 2007, Dr. Farley will serve as the Associate Dean for
Academic Affairs at the Washington College of Law.
Before joining the law faculty at American, Dr. Farley practiced
law specializing in intellectual property litigation with Rabinowitz,
Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman in New York. She received her
B.A. from Binghamton University, her J.D. from SUNY Buffalo School
of Law, and her LL.M. and J.S.D. from Columbia Law School. Dr.
Farley's scholarly work is in the areas of on intellectual property,
international law and art law. Her current projects study the
intersection of art and IP; and the unstable basis of rights in the
development of trademark law.
Mr. Christopher Kalanje
Mr. Christopher Mariot Kalanje, a national of Tanzania, joined
the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in 1999. Before
joining WIPO Mr. Kalanje worked for 13 years in the Foreign Service
of the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania. In 1995 he
worked at the Tanzania Permanent Mission to the United Nations
Office and other International Organizations in Geneva where he was
responsible for activities of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Since joining WIPO Mr. Kalanje has worked at the WIPO Worldwide
Academy (WWA), the Economic Analysis and Forecasting Division, the
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Division and the Creative
Industries Division where he is working to date.
Mr. Kalanje graduated from the University of Dar-es-Salaam,
Tanzania and University of London (SOAS). He also has undergone
training in diplomacy and international relations in, Germany and
Tanzania. He has written articles on Intellectual property for
business. He has also participated, as a speaker, in several events
organized by WIPO or its partners.
Mr. Darren Pogoda
Attorney Advisor, United States Patent and Trademark Office,
Office of External Affairs
Darren Pogoda received his law degree magna cum laude from the
Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in
Washington, D.C. in 1999. After graduating, and before assuming his
current position, he worked at the law firm of Arter & Hadden LLP in
its Washington, D.C. office where his work focused primarily on
trademark, copyright and internet counseling and litigation. In
January of 2002, Mr. Pogoda joined the International
Anticounterfeiting Coalition (IACC) located in Washington, D.C.
where he represented the interests of member companies that have
combined annual revenues of over $650 billion.
As an attorney-advisor at the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, Mr. Pogoda’s duties include providing legal advice on
domestic and international intellectual property law policy and
developments, with emphasis on complex IP protection and enforcement
issues on both a domestic and international level, reviewing and
drafting legislation dealing with substantive intellectual property
law enforcement portions of major proposals, participating as a
technical intellectual property expert on an interagency team in
bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, and organizing and
conducting technical assistance programs and capacity-building
educational activities on various intellectual property
protection/enforcement issues and topics. Mr. Pogoda has been
published in the journal Trademark World, has authored a lengthy
paper on the negative consequences of intellectual property crimes
and is currently authoring a chapter in a legal treatise on
trademark counterfeiting.
Mr. Brett Sergay
Owner, Eastern Art Arcade and AfricanArt.com
Mr. Sergay was born and raised in South Africa and lived there
for 45 years. He moved to Chicago in December 2003 and subsequently
bought AfricanArt.com and Eastern Art Arcade companies which have
been selling African art in the US for 30 odd years. Most of his
career has been in finance and software development for the
financial industry. He has always loved African art and the rich
cultures of Africa, and wanted to pursue a venture promoting this
fine art form in the USA.
Ms. Molly Torsen
As a project attorney for IIPI, Molly develops and implements
projects, conferences and other activities for the Institute.
Prior to joining IIPI, Molly undertook a legal fellowship at the
Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Centre for Studies in
Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law in Edinburgh,
Scotland, where she focused her research on international copyright
laws as they relate to contemporary art. Molly has also done legal
translation from French to English in affiliation with the
International Foundation for Art Research and has collaborated in
legal research projects at the World Intellectual Property
Organization and at Microsoft. Other areas of Molly’s academic and
policy interest include geographical indications, IP and antitrust,
IP and economics, copyright protection for traditional cultural
expressions and for new forms of media, as well as international
copyright law generally. Molly’s professional background prior to
her legal studies include art auction house and museum work.
Molly received a bachelor’s degree in French and her J.D. from the
University of Washington in Seattle. She is fluent in French.
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