Co-Director of CIPPM, Dr Dinusha Mendis, elected to the Executive Committee of the British and Irish Law Education and Technology Association (BILETA)

Dr Dinusha Mendis, Senior Lecturer in Law, and Co-Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management http://www.cippm.org.uk/ was elected to the Executive Committee of the long-standing British and Irish Law Education and Technology Association (BILETA) in March 2012 http://www.bileta.ac.uk/Membership/Executive%20Committee

Formed in April 1986 BILETA exists to promote the use of technology in legal education throughout the UK and Ireland.  The Association liaises with academic organisations and professional organisations such as the Higher Education Academy http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/disciplines/law and British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILI) http://www.bailii.org/ Dr. Mendis also represents Bournemouth University on the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) Council http://www1.legalscholars.ac.uk/about/council/index.cfm which was founded in 1908 and celebrates 104 years in 2012.

At the 2012 BILETA Annual Conference in Newcastle (http://www.numyspace.co.uk/~unn_mlif1/school_of_law/bileta/)  Dr. Mendis presented a paper analysing the UK Digital Economy Act 2010. This Act attempts to enforce copyright law in the online environment, for example against downloading and file-sharing. Infringing users will be given three warnings after which they can potentially be disconnected from the Internet, also known as ‘three-strikes-and-you’re-out’. The law is controversial, and still to be implemented. Dr Mendis considers the proportionality of the measure and its effectiveness in the context of fast moving technology.