Addy is specialized in Intellectual Property Rights (IP). He has over 10 years of experience in contentious and non-contentious IP matters, IP Management, Auditing & Valuation, Portfolio Management, Anti-Piracy, Anti-Counterfeiting and Dispute Resolution & Negotiations.

During his career span, Addy has also worked in top tier IP law firms doing work for IP rich global giants (such as Google, Intel, Shell, GSK, Harley Davidson) whilst representing them in contentious and non-contentious matters and cross border enforcement actions.

Addy speaks at various conferences on Intellectual Property, Cyber Crimes both in an out of the region. Due to his professional experiences, Addy has also been invited to present case studies in seminars and workshops organised by Interpol.

Addy is currently the Intellectual Property and Anti-Piracy Advisor / Senior Legal Counsel for OSN, which is MENA region’s leading pay-TV platform. As part of his role, Addy works with local lawyers, authorities, Hollywood studios, MPAA, broadcasters, organisations and other professionals for content protection. During this time, Addy has initiated, prepared and managed several unique and successful copyright infringement cases in the Middle East as well as India.

Memberships and listings

• Listed by the World Trade Mark Review’s- “WTR-300 in-house corporate TM professionals”.
• Representative member for OSN to the “Intellectual Property Advisory Board” for the Dubai Economy (Dubai, under Ministry of Economy).
• Representative member for “MPAA IPTV task force” – an industry initiative.
• Representative member for AAPA (www.aapa.eu; Audio-Visual Anti-Piracy Association)

Offline media savvy, currently working in the leading MPN in the region after working for the leading mobile OTT service provider, with a strong professional network built through 15+ years of experience.

Currently leading content business in Diwan Group, the biggest MCN in the Middle East and the leading Influncer Marketing Agency, with a run rate of around 2 Bil Views a month, 600 Youtube channels and more than 300 Influncer and content creator.

A people’s person and always succeeded in be-friends with stakeholders and colleagues, creative, communicator, challenger, solution digger, achiever, self driven, and target oriented.

Eric MacInnes has worked with some of the biggest media brands in the world as an on-screen television journalist and producer. For over a decade he was a regular correspondent on the UK’s biggest nightly network news show ITV News at Ten.

After covering wars, the Asian tsunami, earthquakes and the aftermath of 9/11 Eric moved to Dubai in 2009 and has been involved in some iconic Middle East start-ups – including twofour54 & Sky News Arabia – as well as leading the editorial re-launch of Abu Dhabi Media’s nightly national TV news and driving the launch of Saudi Broadcasting Corporation’s Media Training Center in Riyadh, KSA.

He consulted on anti-piracy for OSN in 2016/2017, is a Crisis Communications Associate Director of Kenyon International and offers his own media consultancy services across the MENA, South East Asia and East Africa.

Petr Peterka has served as CTO of Verimatrix since 2010. In this role, he is responsible for the company’s overall revenue security strategy and anti-piracy efforts as well as its advanced technology research and intellectual property development. He has more than 25 years of experience in the multimedia industry, and has extensive familiarity with content protection techniques for IPTV, DVB and OTT streaming, as well as forensic watermarking technology. Petr joined Verimatrix in 2010 from Motorola’s Home and Networks Mobility Team. In this role, he led teams working on digital rights management (DRM) for multimedia streaming over IP networks, content sharing within home networks, and other related products. Petr also played a lead software architect role in the development of satellite, cable and IPTV conditional access systems (CAS) for pay TV. He earned an MSEE degree from Czech Technical University in Prague and a MSCS degree from University of California in San Diego. Petr also holds 26 US patents and numerous patent applications.

Rotana executive, with MBA from Georgetown university and a PhD in Telecommunication.

Author of two renowned books in Telecommunication and Mass communications, had published five international scientific research papers in field of Engineering and neuro-science, has two internationally registered Patents.

Has 30+ years’ international experience in investment, regulation consultancy and business managment in the field of Telecommunication, Broadcast and M. Wellness.

Maaz Sheikh brings more than 20 years’ experience in media and telecom sectors, spanning technical, operational, sales & marketing functions at Fortune 100, as well as early stage technology companies operating in the US, Europe, and the Middle East.

Maaz started his professional career with Sprint Corporation, where he developed a passion for cutting edge technologies to improve consumer experience. After Sprint Corp, Maaz held consulting positions with Ernst & Young’s San Francisco office where he provided technology and marketing consulting services to media and telecom companies. Maaz also held various positions in US-based technology and communications corporations including Product Manager at Concentric Network (now XO Communications), Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Virtela Communications (an NTT Communications Company) and Vice President of Worldwide Sales & Marketing at StorePerform Technologies (now JDA Software).

Maaz spent a part of his childhood growing up in Dubai and returned to the region in 2006 to join Showtime Arabia (now OSN). As Chief Sales & Operations Officer at OSN, he was responsible for regional growth, customer service and spearheading overall customer operations across the Middle East.

As CEO of STARZ PLAY, Maaz is inspiring his team to deliver a new and highly anticipated digital media platform. With its internet–savvy population, the region is a leader in adopting innovative technologies and under Maaz’s leadership, STARZ PLAY is ushering in a bold new world of entertainment options.

Maaz holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University and an M.B.A from The University of Kansas. He currently lives in Dubai with his wife and two sons.

Coming soon…

Christophe is a Principal at the management consulting firm A.T. Kearney. He specializes in working with media and telecom companies on strategic and operational topics, and has spent the last 10 years globetrotting across the Middle East, Asia, North America and Europe. Prior to consulting Christophe’s corporate life was spent with BBC Worldwide in London, where he worked in digital media on the commercial side covering such areas as OTT video, online gaming and social media. Before that Christophe was with AOL figuring out the now (in)famous AOL-Time Warner acquisition. He began his career at Accenture. Christophe holds an MBA from INSEAD business school.

Michael is the Chairman of The Federation of Copyright Theft (FACT) and Group Director for Security at Sky.

He has been on the Board of FACT since 2003 and was, in 2017, appointed as Chairman; FACT is at the forefront of the fight against intellectual property crime in the UK and internationally, specialising in protecting both physical and digital content.

In his time at Sky he has developed the activities that protect Sky’s content, from leading investigations and successfully bringing prosecutions as well as introducing technical measure that disrupt the activities of those who seek to steal content. He is responsible for mitigation strategies in relation to kidnap of those who travel to high risk environments; responsible for all fraud prevention and investigation matters; government and law enforcement liaison; anti bribery and corruption; cyber and asset protection.

Prior to this Michael was a senior Police Officer at New Scotland Yard for 25 years specializing in the use of intelligence. He introduced a new system for the handling of informants and gave expert evidence at several high-profile criminal trials. He was seconded to the United Nations in 1996/7 and went to Iraq on several occasions as a weapons Inspector as part of the United Nations Special Commission.

He is a Liveryman of the City of London and is due to become Master of The Worshipful Company of Security Professionals in 2019. He is married with three children and enjoys playing golf.