David Franklin is a global director of Brand Protection at CSC®—the leading and most respected global provider of corporate domain management and online brand protection services.

A senior executive with 33 years’ experience, Mr. Franklin is responsible for the leadership of CSC’s Brand Protection Services in the European and Asia Pacific regions. These services help clients detect and remove online threats such as rogue websites, counterfeit goods, unauthorized trademark and logo use, fake social media accounts, and fraudulent mobile apps, creating a strong deterrent effect and maximum impact for brand owners.

Mr. Franklin has been with CSC for over 13 years. Prior to joining CSC he spent 6 years as Vice President of EMEA for nCipher (now part of Entrust) - a global leader in security solutions for data protection, encryption, and key management.

Mr Franklin is a member of various Internet task forces and working groups, and is a frequent and well-regarded speaker at conferences. He is often called upon by organizations such as the BBC to be a subject matter expert on internet-related matters. He has a Master’s Degree in Engineering and IT from Cambridge University and a passion for playing jazz on the saxophone when not fighting counterfeiters!

Charmaine Koo is the Co-head of Deacons’ Intellectual Property Department and the Head of IP Litigation and Enforcement, Commercial IP and Entertainment and Media Practice Groups.

Charmaine is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong, Canada and England and Wales. She has a BSc in biology from the University of Toronto, an LLB from Queen’s University, an LLM from Cambridge University and a Graduate Diploma in IP Law and Practice from the University of Bristol.

Charmaine’s practice covers all aspects of IP work including anti-counterfeiting strategies and enforcement of IP rights. She advises on complex IP enforcement advice, litigation and arbitration, and has won a number of high profile court cases resulting in ground-breaking decisions in the Hong Kong IP field. Her leading cases include Yakult vs. Yakudo, Guccio Gucci S.P.A. v Cosimo Gucci and Richemont International S.A. v Da Vinci Collections (HK) Limited. One of her cases Tsit Wing (Hong Kong) Company Limited v TWG Tea Company Pte Ltd. which succeeded at the Court of Final Appeal was voted by Managing IP Magazine as “Hong Kong IP case of the Year 2013”.

Charmaine advises on all aspects of commercial IP, including the structure and documentation of complex commercial transactions, licensing, franchising, distribution, cobranding as well as IT, technology, media, entertainment and advertising agreements. She has also successfully assisted many clients in investigations by and appeals against the Privacy Commissioner, requests for data by data subjects, police and other law enforcement authorities, as well as handling data breach incidence to minimise damage, penalties and other impact to companies.

Charmaine represents many of the world’s leading brands, advertising agencies, entertainment businesses, ISPs and content providers in relation to a wide range of innovative IP or internet issues.

Charmaine has been recognised as a leading lawyer by some of the most reputable global legal directories such as Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, World Trademark Review 1000, among others.

Kiran Sanghera is Special Counsel at HKIAC. She leads HKIAC's domain name dispute resolution team, oversees HKIAC's business development activities, and speaks and writes on dispute resolution including arbitration.

Prior to taking her position at HKIAC, Kiran worked as Director of Litigation Funding at Harbour Litigation Funding where she was responsible for developing the third party funding market across Asia.

Kiran has also previously worked at HKIAC as counsel handling the administration of commercial arbitrations involving parties from Asia, Europe and the Americas, and was responsible for promoting HKIAC’s dispute resolution services and Hong Kong arbitration in Latin America (2013-2014). She also previously worked at the Secretariat of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris.

Kiran is the past Co-Chair of HK45 (2018-2020 term), she currently sits on the Steering Committee of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations, and is a member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce Legal Committee.