Ethiopian Lawyers Association of North America….

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ETHIOPIAN LAWYERS ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA AND HOJA LAW GROUP

IP LAW AND AFRICAN CULTURAL AND
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Panel discussion with: Haile Gerima, Lydia Gobena, and Nemo Semret

Thursday, April 15^th, 2010

07:00 PM-08:30 PM

Panel Discussion and Q&A

WACHTELL , LIPTON, ROSEN & KATZ

51 West 52^nd Street

CBS Building, Room 33F

New York

RSVP Required: famdetsion@wlrk.com

Join the Ethiopian Lawyers Association of North America and Hoja Law Group for a panel discussion on the current legal regime regulating international Copyright and Trademark law, how these laws protect African cultural and intellectual property, as well as the economic and legal impediments for the effective protection of intellectual property in Ethiopia.

Haile Gerima
Haile Gerima has taught film at Howard University in Washington, D.C. since 1975, and has been producing independent films of distinction for over 35 years, including his groundbreaking 1993 film Sankofa. Gerima’s earlier works include the films Harvest: 3000 Years, which Martin Scorsese described as having, “a particular kind of urgency which few pictures possess”; and Bush Mama, which the Washington Post reported, “crackle[d] with energy,” with “fury shak[ing] the very frame.” TEZA is Gerima’s eleventh cinematic production and seventh dramatic film, and tells a story of hope, loss and reminiscence through the eyes of Anberber, an idealistic, young doctor and intellectual, displaced from his homeland Ethiopia for many years.
Lydia Gobena
A partner at Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zizzu, P.C., Lydia counsels and advises clients on international trademark, industrial design, copyright, and unfair competition issues. She develops strategies for acquiring, enforcing and assigning intellectual property rights with an emphasis on foreign laws and international treaties, and litigates international and multi-country conflicts. Lydia has represented a diverse international clientele including, well-known fashion and apparel brands, a luxury goods company, a leading provider of engineering and architectural software, one of the world’s largest music and entertainment companies, leading pharmaceutical companies, beverage and sports brands. Lydia holds an LLM (with distinction) from Georgetown University Law Center, an LLB from the University of London (Hons), as well as a BA from the University of Toronto.

Nemo Semret
Nemo is an engineer and entrepreneur currently working for Google. Previously he was founder and chairman of Invisible Hand Networks a software startup, and an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York. Nemo holds a PhD from Columbia, as well as a MEng and BEng(Hon) from McGill University. He also has 3 US patents but hopes that will not he held against him.

This panel will be moderated by Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa.

Muna founded and acts as managing partner of Hoja Law Group, a boutique law firm in New York and London which represents government ministries, political candidates, SMEs in areas of political, corporate and intellectual property law. Additionally, Hoja Law Group specializes in advising investors doing business in and/or investing in Africa. Jacqueline has been an Adjunct Professor of International Law at Central Michigan University. Muna attended Davidson College where she received a BA in Political Science and International Studies. She earned a a Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne where she was a member of the Melbourne Journal of International Law.