Professor Dinusha Mendis is Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation Law and Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM). She joined Bournemouth University in 2011 as Senior Lecturer in Law and was appointed Associate Professor in November 2013 and Professor of Intellectual Property & Innovation Law in November 2016.

Dinusha was Deputy Dean, Research and Professional Practice (March 2020 - March 2022) and was Head of Research in the Department of Law between 2017-2019.

Currently, Dinusha holds appointments as member of the Metaverse Governance Team of the World Economic Forum; Steering Committee member of the Dfam (additive manufacturing) Network at Loughborough University and is a member of the Copyright Education and Awareness Group, UK Intellectual Property Office. She is also an Executive Member of the British and Irish Legal Education and Technology Association (BILETA) and an External Examiner for the Universities of Aberdeen and London Schools of Economics.

She holds qualifications from the Universities of Aberdeen (LLB (Hons)); Edinburgh (LLM, PhD); Nottingham Trent University (BVC) and has been Called to the Bar of England and Wales and is a member of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple Inn, London.

In 2023 Dinusha is on research leave and was awarded a JSPS-funded Invitational Visiting Professorship to Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan where she is currently based.
During 2015, Dinusha held appointments as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford Law School, University of Stanford California USA and University of Tasmania Australia.

Research

Dinusha specialises in Intellectual Property (IP) Law, in particular copyright law. Her research includes exploring the challenges to IP/copyright law as a result of emerging technologies and in this context, she has conducted extensive funded and collaborative research on the IP implications of 3D printing and emerging technologies and has been invited to speak on the topic at the European Parliament; EU Intellectual Property Office; European Patent Office, IP Australia; BBC, The Guardian, UK House of Lords and for blue-chip industry clients, such as Chanel, Jaguar-Land Rover, HP and Siemens amongst others.

More recently, Dinusha has been researching and publishing in the area of blockchain, the Metaverse and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and has delivered keynote presentations and invited talks in Amsterdam, Geneva, Singapore, Japan and UK.

Externally funded projects which have been awarded and completed recently include a commissioned project for the EU Intellectual Property Office on Illegal IPTV in the EU (as Co-Investigator); a commissioned project for the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) exploring the IP Implications of 3D printing from a Consumer and Business Perspective (as Principal Investigator), an AHRC funded project exploring the IP implications of 3D scanning, 3D printing and mass customisation of ancient and modern jewellery (as Principal Investigator), commissioned research for the UKIPO on the implementation of a parody and orphan works exception (as Co-Investigator); a project funded by ESRC on Copyright and the Value of the Public Domain (as Co-Investigator) and the AHRC-funded Copyrightuser.org project (collaboration between CREATe, University of Glasgow and CIPPM, Bournemouth University) (as Co-Investigator during 2012-2013 and Principal Investigator (2013 - 2016).

In 2018, Dinusha was awarded funding by the European Commission (Project Coordinator) to conduct research into the Intellectual Property Implications of the Development of Industrial 3D Printing. The project awarded in June 2018 was completed in April 2020 in collaboration with partners from UK, Germany, Austria and Finland. During the same period (2018), the Centre for Intellectual Property, Policy and Management (CIPPM) which Dinusha directs, was awarded an EU ERASMUS+ grant for establishing the CIPPM Jean Monet Centre of Excellence for EU Intellectual Property and Information Rights. The project was completed successfully in 2021.

In 2021, Dinusha was awarded funding from the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) (Project Coordinator) for carrying out a project on the key enforcement judgments relating to IP in 14 EU Member States. Collaborating with partners from these 14 Member States, Dinusha has been coordinating this 4-year project which is due for completion in 2024.

In 2022, Dinusha was also awarded funding from IFLA/KnowledgeRights21 for carrying out a project on Open Norms and Copyright in 7 jurisdictions drawn from the EU, USA and Asia. The project is currently in progress and due for completion in October 2023.
In 2023, Dinusha was awarded a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Invitational Visiting Professorship to Waseda University, Tokyo Japan where she is currently based researching IP implications relating to the Metaverse and NFTs.

Publications

Grants

Outreach & engagement

Media coverage