Our Values | Our Clients | Our International Focus

Terri Janke & Company is a unique law firm and consultancy based in Australia, working for and in the interests of Indigenous people throughout Australia and around the world.

The firm principal, Terri Janke, is an Indigenous lawyer who is regarded as a leading international authority on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights (ICIP) for her groundbreaking work in this area.

Our firm’s unique understanding of the legal and business issues associated with the sound, sensitive protection and appropriate use of Indigenous art, music, film, language, literature, heritage and traditional knowledge are fundamental to our success.

We are a preferred service provider to Indigenous Business Australia.

OUR VALUES

Our practice operates according to the belief that people and processes are just as important as outcomes. That knowledge is as important as culture. That life is as important as place.

We are accomplished at seeking solutions to complicated legal matters. Our advice is based on: knowledge, understanding of Indigenous perspectives, legal expertise and having travelled and consulted widely.

We work with sensitivity and respect in all our dealings with clients, referrers, legal adversaries and the wider community.

Our client relationship management and service delivery are: articulate, dependable, well-informed, presentable, solutions-based, quality driven, approachable and professional.

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OUR CLIENTS

Terri Janke & Company is the preferred legal practice for many Indigenous people and communities including: Indigenous artists, musicians, writers, film makers and researchers.

We also work closely with Indigenous arts centres, funding bodies, land councils and other organisations that represent the interests of Indigenous people.

Museums, art galleries, parks, corporations, non-government organisations, academic institutions and governments at national, state and local level also recognise the advantages of engaging specialists like Terri Janke & Company when working with Indigenous people.

Clients have included:

• The Australia Council for the Arts, which asked us to provide cultural, policy and legislative advice regarding Indigenous perceptions of droite de suite or resale royalty in 2000 and assistance with submissions for the 2006 Senate Standing Committee’s Inquiry into Australia’s Indigenous visual arts and craft sector.
  
  
• The Wilin Centre of the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, in authoring and presenting on Indigenous arts, the law and protocol for the Graduate Diploma in Arts Management. The original Year 2006 course is updated and presented annually.
  
  
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council (ATSIAB), which is the peak body guiding the greater empowerment of the arts industry. ATSIAB commissioned us to produce Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) Protocol Guides for Literature, Music, Visual Arts, New Media Arts and Performing Arts in 2001/02, updated in 2008.
  
  
• Rene Kulitja, Aboriginal artist from Central Australia, whose works are reproduced on the Yananyi Dreaming Qantas jet in 2002.

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OUR INTERNATIONAL FOCUS

Indigenous people the world over share common challenges and opportunities in sharing their traditional knowledge, culture and talents with the wider community to mutual benefit.

Terri Janke & Company is a firm of specialist intellectual property lawyers and consultants who focus on the protection and licensing of Indigenous art, music, film, literature and other media and entertainment.

We offer our services to clients in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific region, Canada, the United States, Britain, the Commonwealth generally, and in Europe.

We have worked with:

• The Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in preparing an extensive report Minding Culture: Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge on Indigenous Australians use of the intellectual property regime via 8 case studies.
  
  
• The Australian Government, as an official adviser travelling on an official government passport to New Caledonia in 1999 for the Symposium on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Indigenous Cultures in the Pacific Islands organised by UNESCO and the Council of Pacific Arts.
  
  
• An international conference on Indigenous art, heritage and the politics of identity held at Massey University, New Zealand in July 2002. Terri Janke was a speaker on Branding Indigenous Art and the implications for Intellectual and Cultural Property Rights.

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