About the Tribunal

The Copyright Tribunal is made up of a chairperson and 5 members appointed by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister of Commerce in consultation with the Minister of Justice.

The chairperson must be a barrister or solicitor of the High Court with at least 7 years' experience. The current chairperson is Wi Pere Mita.

  • Wi Pere Mita is a director of Laidlaw Law and Consultancy. He is a lawyer and mediator with extensive experience in intellectual property and matauranga Maori. With a background in arts, culture, media and entertainment, Wi Pere regularly supports clients to protect and commercialise their intellectual property interests in a manner that is consistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi and tikanga practices. 
  • Paul Johns is a principal and head of the litigation and commercial group at AJ Park, a leading provider of intellectual property services in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region. Paul’s practice involves providing advice and representation to clients with legal disputes relating to registered intellectual property rights, copyright, and consumer and marketing law. He has specialised in intellectual property law since 2001, including in roles at leading general commercial law firms in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
  • Peter Dengate Thrush is a patent attorney, barrister and solicitor, specializing in Internet, biotechnology and technology cases, and is licensed to practice in both Australia and New Zealand. He is the managing partner of McCabes, a Wellington-based IP law firm. He is a keen supporter of NZ entrepreneurs and has served as a director of several technology companies. He has been actively involved in international policy development and governance of the Internet, and is past Chairman of InternetNZ, the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Association ( APTLD), and the Board of The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). He is the former Chairman of Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd, (now Minds and Machines Ltd) a listed London company, and is past Chairman of the New Zealand Electricity Rulings Panel. He is currently on the board of several technology start-ups, including Dot Kiwi Ltd bringing the .kiwi domain to New Zealand, and PaycassoVerify Ltd a UK company providing patented facial recognition technology. He is currently the Independent Chair of the Gaming Machine Association of New Zealand.
  • Jennifer Campion is an academic at the University of Waikato, specialising in property law, particularly intellectual property law.  Jennifer is a member of the Universities New Zealand Copyright Experts Group and is a past Chair of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA) Standing Committee on Copyright.  Jennifer was appointed to the Copyright Tribunal in 2023.
 
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