A champion of the record industry, Kiaron Whitehead is panache personified. As general counsel at BPI, the voice of independent and major record labels, he has secured multiple judgments against the UK’s four biggest ISPs – blocking over 70 illegal sites and apps, and thousands of related sites infringing music copyright. Last year he opened up a new front in the campaign to protect copyright and brands and he delivered the first ever extension of website blocking in the UK to mobile network operators (MNOs) starting with EE, part of the BT group.
Whitehead also won a High Court liability case against one of the world’s most egregious cyberlockers, which declared that cyberlockers infringe copyright. That victory came off the back of other landmark judgments, making the record industry the first ever UK rights holder to block illegal stream ripping sites.
In the coming year Whitehead will remain a pivotal legal figure within the exciting intersection of creativity and technology. Having left school at 16 and returned to formal education some time later, he is a passionate advocate for wider inclusion, particularly on neurodiversity. And he keeps himself busy outside the day job as secretary of the IP Bar Association and working for the Bar pro bono charity Advocate.