Jani teaches and researches in the areas of intellectual property law and is the Law School's Deputy Head of School, Teaching and Learning. Her research focuses on copyright and moral rights, particularly in the context of literature and visual art. Jani obtained her LLB and a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Monash University, and a LLM by research from UWA which focused on the potential registration of non-traditional trade marks. Before joining UWA in 1999, she worked as a solicitor for Freehill, Hollingdale and Page, and a Legal Research Officer for a Member of the WA Legislative Assembly. Since joining UWA, Jani has from time to time worked part-time as a solicitor and as a consultant to specialist intellectual property law firms. She has published internationally in numerous peer-reviewed journals and presented her work at conferences and workshops in many countries. She has been a visiting scholar at Berkeley Law school.

Jani is the Law School's Deputy Head of School, Teaching and Learning and chairs the Law School Teaching and Learning Committee. She is a co-director, Applied Intellectual Property Research Hub, and a Member of the Law School's Law and Society Research Hub.

Books/monograph:

Jani is currently writing a book, Literary Characters in Intellectual Property Law, to be published by Edward Elgar in 2020.  She is editing, with Ana Ramalho, International Perspectives on Disability Exceptions in Copyright and the Visual Arts: Feeling Art (Routledge, 2019). She has also edited, with her colleague Dr Fiona McGaughey, The Research Handbook on Art and Law (Edward Elgar, January 2020).

Recent publications:

Book chapters:

•  McCutcheon, JL, ‘Bioart and Copyright’, in E Bonadio and N Lucchi (eds) Unconventional Copyright (Edward Elgar, 2018)
• McCutcheon, JL, ‘When Words Become Art: the Picturisation Right Under Copyright Law’ (forthcoming 2020, A Research Handbook on Art and Law)
• McCutcheon, JL, ‘On The Nullians’ (forthcoming 2020, A Research Handbook on Art and Law)
• McCutcheon, JL and McGaughey, F, ‘Introduction’ (forthcoming 2020, A Research Handbook on Art and Law)

Articles:

•  McCutcheon, JL, ‘The Concept of the Copyright Work under EU Law’ (forthcoming 2020, European Law Review)
• McCutcheon, JL, ‘Levola v Smilde – The Hard Work of Defining a Copyright Work’ (2019) 82(5) Modern Law Review 936–950
• McCutcheon, JL, ‘Works of Fiction: The Misconception of Literary Characters as Copyright Works’ [forthcoming, Journal of the Copyright Society of USA]
• McCutcheon, JL and Leahy, J, ‘Copyright, Illegal Works and the Remedial Discretion of the Court’ (2019) 9:3 Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property 326
• McCutcheon, JL, ‘The Artistic Exemption in Hate Speech Regulation’, (2019) 23:1 Media and Arts Law Review 61
• McCutcheon, JL and Skead, N, ‘The Art of Crime: Proceeds of Crime Legislation and Visual Art’(2018) 22(3) Media and Arts Law Review 253
• McCutcheon, JL, ‘Copyrighting Culture: Photography and the Public Domain’, Photography and Culture, (online May 2018; forthcoming 2019)
• McCutcheon, JL, ‘Natural Causes: When Author Meets Nature in Copyright Law and Art. Some Observations Inspired by Kelley v Chicago Park District ’ (2018) 86:2 University of Cincinnati Law Review 707

Conference presentations:

• Jani McCutcheon, 7 August 2019 ‘Point And Shoot: Modern Photography And Copyright Law’, Federal Court Of Australia Intellectual Property Twilight Seminar
• Jani McCutcheon, 24 May 2019, ‘Copyright in Bioart’, SymbioticA
• Jani McCutcheon, 3 April 2019, ‘Property in Digital Surrogates’, University of Western Australia seminar, Technology and the Public Interest Network
• Jani McCutcheon, February 2019, ‘Digital Access To Culture: Copyright In Photographic Surrogates of Two-Dimensional Cultural Objects’, IP Academics Association of Australia and New Zealand Conference, Tasmania, Australia
• Jani McCutcheon, September 2018, ‘Authorship, Art and Copyright Law’, Art + Law series, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University of Western Australia
• Remedies Forum, Aix en Provence, France (June 2018): Copyright, Illegal Works and the Remedial Discretion of the Court
• Feeling Art: Disability Exceptions and their Application to 3D Printing, International experts Workshop, University of Maastricht, June 2018

Immediate short term:

Completion of Literary Characters in Intellectual Property Law (Edward Elgar, 2020),  The Research Handbook on Art and Law (Edward Elgar, 2020) and International Perspectives on Disability Exceptions in Copyright and the Visual Arts: Feeling Art (2019), including chapter 'Australian Copyright Law’s Disability Exceptions and their Application to 3D Printing of 2D Art’

Future projects:

Feeling Art, Interrogating Intellectual Property Rights Exceptions for 3D Printing of 2D Art to Facilitate Access by the Visually Impaired

Point and Shoot: Modern Photogaphy and Copyright Law

The IP Awareness Project: How IP Savvy Are Australia's Creators and Innovators? Jani recently received a UWA Law School teaching-research Nexus grant to gain insight into the teaching of intellectual property law in Australian tertiary institutions.

Copyright and Illustrated Fiction in the 19th C

Contextual Infringement of the Moral Right of Integrity

Jani is also currently drafting a number of grant applications concerning disability exceptions and visual art.

Jani teaches Intellectual Property Law at post graduate level in the JD and LLM, Marketing Management and the Law (an undergraduate unit offered in the Business Law Major),  Creative Expression and the Law, an undergraduate unit offered in the Law and Society Major, and LAWS4227 Foundations of Law and Legal Institutions (formerly LAWS5227 Foundations of Law and Governance). Jani also guest lectures in the Law and Society undergraduate major units LAWS2018 Law and Literature and LAWS3316 Law, Advocacy, Activism and Change.