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Professor Uma Suthersanen, LLB (Hons)[S’pore], LLM [Lond], PhD [Lond], Advocate and Solicitor (Singapore Bar), FRSA

Uma

Professor of Global Intellectual Property Law

Email: u.suthersanen@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7882 8081
Room Number: 1.4, Lincoln's Inn Fields

Profile

Professor Suthersanen holds a Chair in Global Intellectual Property Law and is the current Director of the Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute. Uma was previously the Academic Director of the London Intellectual Property Law LLM (2012-2021), and the Paris Intellectual Property Law LLM (2012-2015). She was a member for the Law Unit of Assessment (sub-panel 18) for the national Research Excellence Framework, REF 2021.

Uma gained her degrees in law from the National University of Singapore and Queen Mary University of London. She began her academic career at Queen Mary first as the Herchel Smith Research Fellow, followed by the Financial Times Law & Tax Fellowship, before becoming a tenured lecturer in 2001. In 2009, she was conferred a Personal Chair at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies.

Uma has authored and edited the following leading texts: Copinger & Skone-James on Copyright (Nicholas Caddick K.C., Gwilym Harbottle & Uma Suthersanen, 18th Edition); and Dutfield & Suthersanen on Global Intellectual Property Law (Graham Dutfield & Uma Suthersanen, 2nd Edition). She is also the General Editor of Sweet & Maxwell’s European Copyright and Design Reports. She is currently working on a monograph on Copyright and Public Interest: Comparative and Historical Analyses (Gillian Davies & Uma Suthersanen, 3rd edition).

Her research encompasses legal, socio-economic, and comparative aspects of intellectual and intangible property. Professor Suthersanen has served as a consultant and given evidence to international and regional bodies including WIPO, UNESCO, UNCTAD, European Parliament, European Commission, and the Governments of Israel and Singapore. More recently, she has been invited to sit as a WIPO expert on the Ad hoc Committee on traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, IGC 46, February 2023. She sits on the Executive Committee of the British Literary and Artistic Copyright Association (ALAI-UK), having previously been appointed as the first female Chair of ALAI-UK (2006-2010).

Uma’s works have been cited by, inter alia, the following organisations and governments: European Commission (Legal review on industrial design protection in Europe, 2016); OECD (The Innovation Policy Platform (IPP) (developed by the World Bank Group/OECD); Enquiries Into Intellectual Property’s Economic Impact, 2015); UNCTAD (Tool Box for Policy Coherence in Access to Medicines and Local Pharmaceutical Production 2017; Development Dimensions of Intellectual Property in Indonesia:Access to Medicines, Transfer of Technology and Competition, 2011; UNCTAD’s Least Developed Countries Report 2007); WIPO (Economic Research Working Paper No. 18, 2014; IGC on I.P. and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, Note on the Meanings of the Term “Public Domain” in the Intellectual property System, 2010); WTO (Working Paper on Intellectual Property Rights Protection and Export Diversification: the Application of Utility Model Laws, 2014); Australian Government (Productivity Commission’s Report on Intellectual Property Arrangements 2016; IPAustralia Economic Research Paper 05, The economic impact of innovation patents, 2015; Advisory Council on I.P., Review of the Innovation Patent System (Final Report), 2015); Indian Government (Discussion Paper on Utility Models (DIPP, 2011).

Uma is a Visiting Professor on the WIPO Academy Joint LLM programmes with the (i) University of Ankara, and (ii) Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property-University of Tongji. She is also on the Visiting Faculty for the WIPO Academy programme with the British Copyright Council & UK Intellectual Property Office, and an Overseas Fellow of the I.P. Academy of Singapore.

She has been interviewed and quoted in various international media including The Telegraph, International Herald Tribune, The Guardian and BBC Radio 4 (Law in Action).

Before she decided to stop all that travelling, Uma accepted invitations to give guest lectures at several institutions located in amazing cities including: Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon; Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht Berlin; University of Alicante; Université Robert Schuman, Strasbourg; University of Western Ontario; University of Maastricht; Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Universidad Externado de Colombia, Bogota; Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Macedonia; and University of Meiji-Waseda, Tokyo. And in USA: University of Washington, St. Louis; University of Boston; George Washington University, Washington.

Postgraduate Teaching

Research

Research Interests:

Professor Suthersanen’s research encompasses the legal, socio-economic, and comparative aspects of intellectual and intangible property. She is currently mapping the motivations underlying the creation of intangible goods, and mapping the shifting public interests in intellectual property rules. Her current theoretical approaches embrace Karl Polanyi’s notion of fictitious commodities, and general stakeholder theory as applied within IP regulation. She is also working, with Graham Dutfield, on mapping the nature and scope of rights for traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.

Research projects:

In relation to larger funding and collaborative projects, Uma is focussing on IP rules in relation to cultural heritage and cultural property; digitisation of heritage and creativity; virtual property; TK/TCEs.

Working Publications:

Having seen through the second edition of Dutfield & Suthersanen on Global Intellectual Property Law (Edward Elgar, 2020), which involved a lot of reading and writing, Uma is indulging herself by writing on a wide array of concerns with global impact – either within contemporary scenarios or from historical perspectives. Her writing projects are: “Asimov, Star Trek and Electric Sheep: cultural readings on regulating AI, inventions and art”; “The evolving role of branding in pharmaceutical lifecycle management: implications for competition and access to medicines” (with G. Dutfield);; and “IP and Cultural Heritage Issues for Museums of Archaeological Materials” (published with Pinar Oruc). A bigger project is with Gillian Davies on re-contextualising earlier editions of Copyright and Public Interest and writing new chapters (admittedly late). A more quixotic project is the genesis of English copyright and patent doctrines within 18th century jurisprudence, with a focus on Lord Mansfields’ decisions. An initial foray in this area resulted in: Pope versus Curll (1741) Revisited: Being A fair and true Account of the Views of certain well-respected Authors on Publishing, Pyracy and Propertie in the Eighteenth Century (published in S.Ghosh (ed), Forgotten Intellectual Property Lore, Edward Elgar, 2020, with G. Dutfield).

Uma claims the “currently working on a monograph” status – and is actually currently working on a monograph which attempts to construct a fresh theoretical framework in relation to intellectual property rules. Some of the theoretical framework is worked in a recent publication – “Creativity, Pluralism and Fictitious Narratives – Understanding IP Law through Karl Polanyi”.

Mission:

Uma’s personal research mission is to build a framework of intellectual property rules by locating it within law and economic policy discourses on market, innovation, creativity and public interest. We may better understand the entire legal construct of IPRs through different spaces and times by embracing an international and comparative legal approach (which acknowledges the divergences in legal families and justificatory bases) and by re-framing norms and practices governing intangible property, human and societal rights. And whilst this mission may never be fulfilled, she believes (perhaps delusionally) that she has achieved several goals in this respect: (i) initiated a more critical perspective on utility models by arguing that such hybrid rights have to be designed on the basis of endogenous economic, development, and innovation environments, taking into account the local competencies and collective behaviours - as these rights challenge the justificatory bases of all other intellectual property rights, as well as accepted competition norms [see outputs on utility models and minor innovations]; (ii) produced several comparative doctrinal studies in the period 1996-2016 on the legal protection of consumer objects as a socio-legal phenomenon by exploring justifications and functionality doctrines within copyright, design, trade mark and competition laws (citations of her work include two by the Advocate General for the CJEU, and she was the academic lead and main scientific author of the European Commission’s 2016 Legal Review of Industrial Design Protection in the EU); (iii) pioneered the use of stakeholder analysis as an analytical tool for exploring unusual patterns within the right to education, orphan works, bio-cultural heritage, and the evolution of international copyright norms.

Grants and Funding

European Union and Research Councils

  • European Parliament Multiple Framework Contract N°IP/C/JURI/FWC/2015-02/LOT 4, providing external expertise to the EP’s Committee on Legal Affairs (on Intellectual Property), as consortium member with Timelex and University of Maastricht. Up to €125 000 (2017-2019)
  • European Commission Directorate General MARKT (SMART 2014/083/D), providing a legal review on industrial design protection in the EU, as lead author and academic lead, and co-PI with Timelex and SparksInc.). €60 000 (2014-2016)
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council: Small Research Grants under Beyond Text programme - Who owns the orphans: intellectual property and visual art, as sole PI. £148 000 (2010-2012)
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council - AHRC Network on Copyright to organise and hold an international and interdisciplinary workshop on Copyright, Corporate Power and Human Rights, as co-PI and Core Participant, with Fiona Macmillan as lead PI and grant holder (leading to a book chapter A Stakeholder’s Palimpsest - see above) £5000 (2005-2006)

Academic and Industry – funding and sponsorship for prizes, bursaries and workshops

  • INTA Foundation - £10 000 for best dissertation prize on IP law and Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity at Queen Mary (2022-2023)
  • BLACA-Stationers’ Company Bursary - £6000 for international and comparative copyright LLM students at Queen Mary/King’s College London (since 2015 – annually)
  • McDermott, Will and Emery LLP - LLM and Phd editorial internships on monthly European I.P. Newsletter. £24 000 per annum (2006-2008)
  • London Centre for Arts and Cultural Enterprises - £2500 for a scoping workshop on copyright and the visual arts in the digital environment (which led to an AHRC grant on orphan works - see above). (2008)
  • Bridgeman Art Library and Finers Stephens Innocent LLP - £3000 for a conference on the concept of creativity in photographs with Marybeth Peters, the then US Register of Copyrights giving a keynote; plus speakers’ dinner at the House of Lords (2007)
  • Clifford Chance LLP - £5000 for a conference on freedom of expression and copyright (leading to a co-edited book on Free Speech and Copyright - see the publications tab). (2003)

Publications

Books

Journal articles

  • ‘An Autonomous EU Functionality Doctrine for Shape Exclusions’ (with Marc Mimler), [2020] 69(6) GRUR International 567 – 2021 ECTA Award Winners
  • ‘Traditional Knowledge and Genetic Resources: Observing Legal Protection through the Lens of Historical Geography and Human Rights’ (with Graham Dutfield) [2019] 58 Washburn Law Journal 399-447
  • Excluding Designs (and Shape Marks): Where is the EU Court of Justice going? (2019) 2 International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 1-3
  • ‘Property and Culture: A Case Study on Orphan Works’ [2017] Vol. XXII Art, Antiquity & Law 172-191
  • ‘Editorial - Impact of Brexit on Art, Business and Law” [2017] Vol. XXII Art, Antiquity & Law 97-100
  • ‘Declaration - A Balanced Interpretation Of The “Three-Step Test” In Copyright Law’ (with Reto Hilty, Christoph Geiger, Jonathan Griffiths) [2010] JIPITEC 119; German version published as ‘Erklärung: Eine ausgewogene Auslegung des Drei-Stufen-Tests im Urheberrecht’ [2010] GRUR Int. 822
  • ‘Creative Commons – the other way”[2007] 20(1) Learned Publishing 59-68
  • ‘Harmonisation or Differentiation in Intellectual Property Protection? The Lessons of History’ (with Graham Dutfield) [2005] 23(2) Prometheus 131-147
  • ‘DNA Music: Intellectual Property and the Law of Unintended Consequences’ (with Graham Dutfield) (2005) Science & Technology Studies, Vol. 28(1), pp. 5-29
  • ‘The Innovation Dilemma: Intellectual Property and the Historical Legacy of Cumulative Creativity’ (with Graham Dutfield) [2004] 8 Intellectual Property Quarterly 379-421
  • ‘Copyright and Educational Policies: A Stakeholder Analysis’ [2003] 23 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 586-610
  • ‘The European Court of Justice in Philips v Remington: Trade Marks and Market Freedom’ [2003] 7 Intellectual Property Quarterly 257-283
  • ‘Incremental Inventions in Europe: A Legal and Economic Appraisal of 2nd Tier Patents’ [2001] Journal of Business Law 19-343
  • ‘Breaking down intellectual property barriers’ [1998] 3 Intellectual Property Quarterly 267-294
  • ‘A brief tour of the utility model law’ [1998] 20(2) European Intellectual Property Review 44-51
  • ‘Hodgkinson and Corby Ltd” [1995] Journal of Business Law 197-200
  • ‘Ford Motor Company's Application’ [1994] Journal of Business Law 513-14

Chapters in books

2021-

2010-2020

2017

  • ‘The EU Directive on Orphan Works’, (with Maria Mercedes Frabboni) in in Irini Stamatoudi & Paul Torremans (eds), EU Copyright Law: A Commentary, , Edward Elgar, 653-695, 2015
  • Copyright and Manufactured Objects: Aesthetic Considerations and Policy Discriminations’, in Matthew David and Debora Halbert (eds), Sage Handbook Of Intellectual Property, Sage Publications, 2015
  • ‘Function, art and fashion: do we need the EU design law?’, in Christoph Geiger (ed), Constructing European Intellectual Property: Achievements and New Perspectives, Edward Elgar, 2013
  • ‘Albion's Legacy?’, in U. Suthersanen & Y. Gendreau (eds) Shifting Empire: 100 Years Since the Imperial Copyright Act of 1911, Edward Elgar, 2013
  • ‘The First Global Copyright Act’, in Uma Suthersanen & Ysolde Gendreau (eds), Shifting Empire: 100 Years Since the Imperial Copyright Act of 1911, Edward Elgar, 2013
  • ‘Global Intellectual Property Law’, (with Graham Dutfield), in G. Ziccardi Capaldo (ed), The Global Community Yearbook of International Law & Jurisprudence 2010 Oxford University Press, 7-34, 2012
  • ‘The Design/Copyright Overlap: Is there a Resolution?’ (with Sam Ricketson) in, Neil Wilkof & Shamnad Basheer (eds), Overlapping Intellectual Property Rights, Oxford University Press, 159-187, 2012

2000-2010

  • ‘Comparative Advertising under European Law: Towards a More Liberal Policy’ (with Torsten Tristan Straub), in Renata Krzykała-Schaefer (ed), Zarządzanie międzykulturowe w jednoczącej się Europie, WSB Poznan, 2010
  • ‘Copyright as an Engine of Free Speech: An English Perspective’ (translated in French and Spanish), in Copyright and Freedom of Expression/Derecho de Autor y Libertad de Expresión, Huygens, 167-187, 2008
  • ‘Some initial thoughts on copyright, human rights and market freedom’, in Guido Westkamp (ed.), Emerging Issues in Modern Intellectual Property: Trade, Technology, Market Freedom, Edward Elgar, 35-53, 2007
  • ‘Copyright Law: A Stakeholder's Palimpsest’, in Fiona Macmillan (ed.) New Directions in Copyright Law, Edward Elgar, 119-134, 2007
  • ‘Bleak House or Great Expectations? The Literary Author as a Stakeholder in Nineteenth-Century International Copyright Politics’, in Helle Porsdam (ed), Copyright and Other Fairy Tales, Edward Elgar, 40-60, 2006
  • ‘Technology, Time and Market Forces: The Stakeholder in the Kazaa Era’, in Meir Pugatch (ed), The Intellectual Property Debate: Perspectives from Law, Economics and Political Economy, Edward Elgar, 230-267, 2006
  • ‘Towards an International Public Interest Rule? Human Rights and International Copyright Law”, in J. Griffiths and U. Suthersanen (eds.), Copyright and Free Speech, Oxford University Press, 97-124, 2005
  • ‘Industrial designs’, Resource Handbook on TRIPS and Development, Cambridge University Press, 2005
  • ‘Harmonising Design Law in a Free Trade Area: Jurisprudential Lessons from the European Union and the United States’, Christophe Antons, et al (eds), Intellectual Property Harmonisation Within ASEAN and APEC, Kluwer Law International, 57-92, 2004
  • ‘The Economic Efficacy of Utility Model Protection’, in Christopher Heath & Anselm Kamperman-Sanders (eds), Industrial Property in the Bio-Medical Age, Kluwer Law International, 231-256, 2003
  • ‘Napster, DVD and All That: Developing a Coherent Copyright Grid for Internet Entertainment’, in Eric Barendt & Alison Firth (eds), Yearbook of Copyright and Media Law, Oxford University Press, 207-250, 2002
  • ‘The Role and Structure of the United Kingdom Copyright Tribunal’, Ysolde Gendreau (ed), Institutions Administratives Du Droit D'Auteur / Copyright Administrative Institutions, Éditions Yvon Blais, 481-504, 2002
  • ‘A Comparative Review of Database Protection in the European Union and United States’, Francois Dessemontet & R. Gani (eds), Creative Ideas for Intellectual Property, Cédidac, 2002
  • ‘The Law of Copyright’ and ‘The Law of Design’, in Iain Purvis Q.C. and Jennifer Pierce (eds),Working with Technology: Law & Practice, Sweet & Maxwell, 195-230; 231-256, 2001
  • ‘Collectivism of copyright: the future of rights management in the European Union’ in Eric Barendt & Alison Firth (eds), Yearbook of Copyright and Media Law, Oxford University Press, 15-42, 2000

Pre-2000

  • ‘Legal and economic aspects of bioprospecting’, in M. Blakeney (ed), Intellectual Property Aspects of Ethnobiology, Sweet and Maxwell, 43-83, 1999
  • ‘Exclusions to design protection: a new model’, in JAL Sterling (ed), Intellectual Property and Market Freedom, Sweet and Maxwell, pp.1-61, 1997
  • ‘A Jolly Good Bill - Their Lordships Consider the Trade Marks Bill’ (with Brian Tutt), [1994] Yearbook on Trade Marks 34 – 40
  • ‘Authorship and Ownership of Industrial Designs’ [1994] Managing Intellectual Property 23-34
  • ‘Pig Fenders – Commonplace’ [1993] 24 European Communities Trade Mark Association 39-45

Commissioned reports and policy briefs

  • QMIPRI Response to the Law Commission’s Digital Assets Consultation Paper, Queen Mary Law Research Paper No. 396/2022 (with Gary Gabison, Michaela Macdonald and Guido Westkamp)
  • Legal review on industrial design protection in Europe, Author and academic lead. Published by European Commission Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, September 2016
  • A2K and the WIPO Development Agenda: Time to List the Public Domain Commissioned and published by UNCTAD-ICTSD Project on IPRs and Sustainable Development, Policy Brief Number 1, 2008, re-published in Bridges 13(1), 2009
  • Developing a Positive Agenda for Copyright Issues for the CEMAC for EPA Negotiations. Commissioned by International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) for the CEMAC Regional Dialogue on European Partnership Agreements, Sustainable Development and Intellectual Property Negotiations. Published in Bridges 13(1) 2009
  • Utility Models and Innovation in Developing Countries. Commissioned and published by UNCTAD-ICTSD Project on IPRs and Sustainable Development, ICTSD Issue Paper No. 13, Geneva, 2006.
  • The Legal and Economic Feasibility of Utility Model Protection in Singapore. Commissioned by Singapore Intellectual Property Academy/Singapore Government. Lead PI and author (co-PIs Kit Boey Chow from National University of Singapore and Andrew Christie from University of Melbourne). Research output published as authored/edited book Innovation without Patents (see Publications). 2005
  • The Future of Copyright Reform in Developing Countries: Teleological Interpretation, Localized Globalism and the 'Public Interest' Rule’. Commissioned by UNCTAD-ICTSD and presented at UNCTAD-ICTSD Workshop on IPRs and Sustainable Development, Rockefeller Foundation Centre, Bellagio, 2005
  • Identifying Stakeholders’ Interests in Copyright and Commerce, in Intellectual Property and Rights Ownership, Westminster Media Forum Projects:London, 42-45, 2005
  • Copyright, Education, and Fundamental Freedoms: The Right to Knowledge, Commissioned by UNCTAD-ICTSD and presented at Regional Arab Dialogue, Geneva, 2005
  • ‘Harmonisation or Differentiation in Intellectual Property Protection? The Lessons of History’ with Graham Dutfield Occasional Paper 15, Quaker United Nations Office, August 2004
  • An Assessment of Educational Exceptions in Copyright Law, in Copyright–Whose Flexible Friend in the Information Society?, IPI, London, pp 30-56, 2001
  • The Legislative Experience of Collecting Societies in European Union Member States, published in Gestão Colectiva do Direito de Autor e Direitos Conexos no Ambiente Digital, Portuguese Ministry of Culture/ /European Commission, 111-154, 2001
  • The New Draft Designs Directive with A Firth, UK Intellectual Property Institute, London, 1-15, 1997
  • ** Development Dimensions of Intellectual Property in Cambodia – Copyright and Culture. Commissioned by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Study. Author and mission member. 2010-2015, under embargo.

Supervision

Uma Suthersanen has supervised a total of 30 students to successful completion (as primary or secondary supervisor – see below for full list). She welcomes proposals for supervision in intellectual property law in general. She would be most helpful as a supervisor for proposals which fall within her current areas of research interest: Justifying Intellectual Property Rules or Globalisation of IPRs. Aspects worth considering are:

  • socio-legal, philosophical and law & economic aspects of IPRs;
  • doctrines on property, competition, society, culture, and human rights and its effect on IPRs;
  • aesthetic theories on art, industrial designs, robot/AI-generated creativity;
  • labour and IPRs, including employee works; 
  • education/health/environment and IPRs;
  • (bio)-cultural property, TK/TCEs, repatriation, ABS mechanisms; rights of local/indigenous groups;
  • cultural property/heritage and digital copyright and memory institutions (including repatriation of heritage)

Current students

  • Maryam Parsioon (Herchel Smith Scholar), Can an Understanding of Artistic Creativity and a Strategy to Raise IP Awareness Among U.S. and U.K. Artists Make Them a More Effective Subject of Copyright Law?
  • Alexandros Alexandrou, The Interactive Entertainment Industry and Successive Creativity: Remastering Copyright for Video Games and Successive Works
  • Barasha Borthakur (Herchel Smith Scholar), A Study to Cover Green Intellectual Property under TRIPS Flexibilities: Imagining Climate Mitigation Technologies as ‘Public Good’ and Climate Change as ‘National Emergency’
  • Abhijeet Kumar (Herchel Smith Scholar), IPRs and Traditional Cultural Expressions
  • Kay Dunn (Herchel Smith Scholar), Exploring Intellectual Property Protections for the UK’s Indigenous Scottish Communities’ Intangible Cultural Heritage

First supervision – passed

  • Tamar Khuchua (EIPIN Innovation Society Scholar): The Future of the European Patent Judicial Design: In Search for Uniformity – joint supervision with Prof. Christophe Geiger, University of Strasbourg – passed 2021
  • Lucius Klobučník (EIPIN Innovation Society Scholar): Innovative Models for Multi-territorial Licensing of Musical Works for Online Use: An Answer to Rights’ Fragmentation Problem? (submitted) – joint supervision with Prof. Josef Drexl, Max Planck Institute (Munich) / University of Augsberg – passed 2021
  • Kelvin Sum: Syncing copyright with the online digital environment – passed 2020
  • Pinar Oruç (CCLS Herchel Smith scholar): The Effect of Copyright Laws on the Preservation and Digitisation of Cultural Heritage – passed 2019
  • Natalie G. S. Corthésy: What’s In A Name?” International Intellectual Property Protection of Nation Brands – passed 2019
  • Paula Westenberger (Queen Mary School of Law scholar): Freedom of expression, performance art and copyright : A socio-legal analysis of the Brazilian jurisprudence – passed 2018
  • Heesob Nam, A Human Rights Approach in Global Intellectual Property Regime: ‘Trade Related’ v. ‘Human Rights Related’ – passed 2018
  • Lynda Oswald: United States multi-actor patent infringement doctrine and the role of specialised appellate courts - passed 2016
  • Vivian Mak (Queen Mary AHRC scholar): Patenting human genetic material: a comparative study  - passed 2014
  • Mary Gani-Ikilama (Herchel Smith scholar): An analysis of the effects of copyright law on the creative autonomy of the performing author in the Nigerian popular music industry - passed 2014
  • Henry Nampandu (Commonwealth scholar): The conflict between copyright and the right to education: a least developed country perspective with specific reference to Uganda – passed 2014
  • Pawarit Lertdhamtewe (Herchel Smith scholar): Intellectual property rights and development: reforming plant protection regime in Thailand for development objectives – passed 2014
  • Shang-pei Chung (Taiwanese Government Scholar): Patents as property in Taiwanese jurisprudence: rebuilding a property model for patents – passed 2013
  • Gaetano Dimita: Copyright and shared networking technologies
  • Jairak Euarchukiate (Thai Government scholar): Access to essential medicines and patents in Thailand
  • Maria Mercedes Frabboni (Herchel Smith scholar): Collective management of music rights: a test of competition and industrial organization theories
  • Mark Abell: The regulation of franchising in the European Union
  • Beverley Pereira: A regional approach to the management of copyright in the Caribbean community
  • Phillip Johnson: Private international law, Intellectual Property and the Internet
  • Marisella Ouma: Copyright Enforcement in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • John Cahir (Herchel Smith scholar): A harmony between private and common ownership: the evolution of property in digitally networked information societies

Second supervision – passed

  • Shane Burke (Graduate Teaching scholar): Disintegrating reification: developing artistic practice and copyright’s increasing struggle for relevance
  • Marta Diaz Pozo (Herchel Smith scholar): Patentability requirements’ failure in biotechnology patents: EC directive on biotechnological inventions
  • Athina Loverdou: Copyright and freedom of expression: revising the Berne Convention
  • Estelle Derclaye: In search of an adequate legal protection of databases: a comparative analysis
  • Martin Kuppers: Third-party copyright liability of online service providers in the UK and USA
  • Johanna von Braun: Do public policy objectives have a space in the negotiation of bilateral free trade agreements?  A study of multi-level diplomacy and the making of intellectual property law
  • Rajesh Sagar: The evolution of patent policy in India from 1856 to 2005
  • Hanan Almawla: The problem of author’s moral rights in conflicts of laws
  • Ke Shao: The justice of balance: understanding intellectual property from Chinese historical and philosophical perspectives

Public Engagement

Further Visiting Appointments

  • Visiting Professor & Expert for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Academy joint LLM programmes with (i) University of Ankara (2017- ) and (ii) Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property-University of Tongji (2022 - )
  • Faculty for WIPO Academy Advanced Course in Copyright, with British Copyright Council & UK Intellectual Property Office
  • Visiting & Overseas Fellow, IP Academy of Singapore / IP Office of Singapore

Societies and Professional Boards

  • International Chamber of Commerce: Task Force Member of Commission on Intellectual Property (2021 - )
  • British Literary and Artistic Copyright Association (ALAI-UK): Executive Committee Member (2013 – present); Chairman (2006-10); Vice-Chairman (2010-2013)
  • Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale: Executive Committee Member (2006-2016)
  • British Copyright Council: Copyright and Technology Working Group (2004-2012)
  • British Computer Society: Legal Advisory Committee (2004-2011)
  • Geneva Trade & Development Forum on Inclusive Globalization: Working Group on Trade and Intellectual Property (2007-2008)
  • Institute for Public Policy Research: Advisory Board (2006-2007)
  • Creative Commons (England & Wales): Legal Advisory Board (2004-2007)

Editorships

General Editor, European Copyright and Design Reports (Sweet & Maxwell); Founding and Series Editor, Queen Mary Studies in Intellectual Property; Editorial Advisory Board: International Review of Law, Computers and Technology; Interactive Entertainment Law Review

Peer Reviewer

  • Journals: Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Modern Law Review, European Law Review, International Review of Law, Computers and Technology, Third World Quarterly, International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, Journal of Intellectual Property Rights; World Intellectual Property Review, European Intellectual Property Review, Intellectual Property Quarterly, Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, Journal of IP Law and Practice.
  • Book proposals - Cambridge University Press; Francis Taylor; Routledge; Sweet & Maxwell; Edward Elgar
  • Organisations and Research Council Reports and Funding Applications - UNESCO; The South Centre (Geneva); ESRC; Leverhulme Trust
  • REF - External reviewer for University of East Anglia, 2012

Community

Invited Keynote Lectures

  • Creativity and capital as fictitious commodities within an intellectual property framework, 37th BILETA Conference May 2022, Exeter
  • The Functionality Doctrine, 109th Annual Conference of The Society of Legal Scholars, Queen Mary. September 2018, London
  • Education and Copyright, Intellectual Property Law in Perspective of Economic Growth and Wealth Creation, University of Izmir/Newton Grant funded. August 2017, Izmir, Turkey
  • A Global Law for Intellectual Property, Inaugural Queen Mary-Singapore Management University Alumnus Lecture, Singapore Management University. July 2016, Singapore
  • World Copyright Systems: Philosophical and Pragmatic Queries, Inaugural Mona Law Intellectual Property Conference. February 2014, Kingston, Jamaica
  • Utility models and developing countries, UNCTAD & ICTSD on Innovation in Developing Countries. 2006, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Perspectives on the community design law, European Office of the Harmonisation in the Internal Market. 2003, Alicante, Spain
  • Human rights and intellectual property rights, Annual Conference by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. 2003, London

And Other Narratives...

  • A New Era of Open? COVID-19 and the Pursuit for Equitable Solutions, Panelist, organized by Creative Commons, March 2021 (online)
  • Copyright protection of video games in the post-Brexit world, Panelist, Interactive Entertainment Law Review seminars, March 2021 (online)
  • The Brompton Bicycle Decision: EU Copyright Jurisprudence on Shapes, Maurer School of Law/Center for IP Research, Indiana University. October 2020, USA (online)
  • Cofemel : Why the CJEU may be right, (with Marc D Mimler), British Literary & Artistic Copyright Association (ALAI-UK). January 2020, London
  • Who Owns the Artefact? Visualising the future of digital heritage assets (with Paula Westenberger), 11th Annual Conference of the International Society for the History and Theory of Intellectual Property (ISHTIP). July 2019, Sydney, Australia
  • Copyright and Out-of-Commerce Works, 6th International Intellectual Property Congress, Queen Mary, London and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. June 2017, Madrid, Spain
  • Universities, Educational Use and Copyright : A Comparative Review, in Intellectual Property and Global Development: 50 Years after Stockholm, Texas A&M University School of Law. March/April 2017, Fort Worth, USA.
  • Copyright Licences and Orphan Works, Annual Congress of the International Literary and Artistic Association (ALAI 2017). May 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Copyright and Course Packs: A Collision of Competing Values?, Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre and the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development, Somerville College, University of Oxford. November 2016, Oxford
  • Acquis Communautaire in Design Law, Annual Congress of the International Literary and Artistic Association (ALAI 2016). September 2016, Rome, Italy
  • Innovation, Commerce and IPRS: US and EU divergences, with G. Dutfield, Thailand Intellectual Property and International Trade Court. July 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
  • Cartridges, coffee pods and cars: Design Protection and Relevant Aftermarkets after Nestle and EFIM decisions, 6th International Intellectual Property Congress, organised by Queen Mary, London and Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. June 2015, Madrid, Spain
  • Challenges under International Copyright Law, Universidad Externado de Colombia. July 2014, Bogota, Colombia
  • CJEU case law on originality and EU directive interpretation, 4th International I.P. Congress, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid & Queen Mary. June 2014, London
  • Who Cares About the Orphans? Institutional and Authorial Mandates, Digitization, Public Domain & Informational Monopolies, Bournemouth University. April, 2014, Bournemouth
  • Statutory Interpretation of EU Copyright in UK Law, 15th European Intellectual Property Institutes Network (EIPIN) Congress. April, 2014, London
  • “3D objects and IP Discrimination”, Intellectual Property Symposium jointly organized by University of Durham and University of Hawaii, June 2013, Durham.
  • ISP Liabilities and Remedies at the 32nd Congress of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP), held at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. June, 2013, Oxford
  • Design Law for Developing Countries, in Legal, Economic and Management Aspects of Intellectual Property, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organisation/CEIPI - Université de Strasbourg/National Institute of Industrial Property. June 2013, Strasbourg, France
  • New EU Directive on Orphan works, at the 3rd International IP Congress at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. June 2013, Madrid, Spain
  • Aggrandizing Petty Innovation – International Aspects, American Bar Association's 28th Annual Intellectual Property Law Conference, 3-5 April 2013, Arlington, USA,
  • Product Designs and Fashionable Lifestyles: Law, Function and Aesthetism, paper presented at HERA project Fashioning the Early Modern: Creativity and Innovation in Europe, 1500-1800, Fashion and IPRs: Past & Present, February 2013, London
  • Design and Function: an EU perspective, in ‘Charting the New Frontiers of Intellectual Property Protection of Luxury Goods’, University of Hong Kong, June 2012, Hong Kong, China
  • Design, Function and Art: A socio-legal perspective, at ‘The Future of Design Law,’, organized by the University of Bloomington, Indiana & St. Peter’s College, University of Oxford, Nov. 2-3, 2012, Oxford
  • Who Owns the Orphans – Traditional and Digital Property in Visual Art, World Intellectual Property Organisation Side Event. May, 2011, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Who Owns the Orphans – Preliminary Findings of the AHRC funded study on orphan works in visual art, AHRC at Beyond Text' & Intellectual Property Institute conference, April 2011, London
  • Who Owns the Orphans – Preliminary Findings of the AHRC funded study on orphan works in visual art, Queen Mary University of London. March 2011, London
  • The Paradox of Design Law in the EU, European Intellectual Property Institutes Network Conference, February 2011, Strasbourg, France
  • Right of the Author v Right to Education: Human Rights within National and International Copyright Laws, Hokkaido University/University of Meiji-Waseda, October 2010, Sapporo and Tokyo, Japan
  • Orphan Works – European Reform, British Literary and Artistic Copyright Association (ALAI-UK) and Intellectual Property Institute Seminar, October 2010, London
  • The Public Domain, UNCTAD and International Centre on Trade and Sustainable Development Workshop on the WIPO Development Agenda and the Public Domain. April 2009, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Time for a declaration on the 'public domain': A2k and the WIPO Development Agenda, 3rd Access to Knowledge Global Conference organized by the Yale Law School Information Society Project, September 2008, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Defining the public interest in health and software related intellectual property rights, UNCTAD-Stockholm Network-PIIPA Workshop, June 2007, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Creative commons: An author’s imprimatur, not a licence to print money, organized by UNCTAD / International Centre on Trade and Sustainable Development / Library of Alexandria, Conference on Access to Knowledge, 2006, Alexandria, Egypt
  • Education, Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights, AHRC/Birkbeck College Workshop on Human Rights, Corporate Power and Copyright, 2006, London
  • Copyright: 'Engine' or 'Obstacle' of Free Speech, Annual Congress of the International Literary and Artistic Association (ALAI 2006), Barcelona, Spain
  • Creators in biotechnology and culture: geniuses, or industrial stakeholders? (with G. Dutfield) in Dynamics of Institutions and Markets in Europe (DIME) Symposium on IPRS for Business and Society, Birkbeck College, 2006, London
  • Creation Myths: Mapping Originality in Space and Time (with G. Dutfield) in Con/texts of Invention: Working Conference of the Society for Critical Exchange. April 2006, Cleveland, USA
  • Tracing the Copyright Stakeholders: From the Renaissance to Google, AHRC Workshop on Copyright and New Technologies, Case Western Reserve University. April 2006, Cleveland, USA
  • Education, intellectual property rights and fundamental freedoms, organized by UNCTAD / International Centre on Trade and Sustainable Development / Library of Alexandria, Regional Arab Dialogue on IPRs, Innovation and Sustainable Development. 2005, Alexandria, Egypt
  • Teleological Interpretation, localized globalism and the 'public interest' rule, organized by UNCTAD / International Centre on Trade and Sustainable Development Workshop on IPRs and Sustainable Development. 2005, Rockefeller Foundation Centre, Bellagio, Italy
  • Creativity, Commerce and Copyright: Hogarth, Annual Congress of the Association for the Enhancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP). 2005, Montreal, Canada
  • The Quest for Utility Model Protection Fordham University Conference on Asia. 2005, New York, USA
  • The Case for Utility Model Protection in Singapore organized by the Singapore Intellectual Property Academy Conference on Petty Patents in Asia. 2005, Singapore
  • EU Design Rights, 8th Annual Conference of the Irish European Law Forum, University College Dublin. 2004, Dublin, Ireland
  • Cultural innovation: identifying stakeholders’ interests in copyright and commerce, ESRC Research Seminars on the History of Innovation, organized by Queen Mary University of London. 2004, London
  • International protection standards in the field of copyright, at WIPO Conference on Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights for General Prosecutors. 2003, Muscat, Oman
  • The innovation dilemma and the nirvana fallacy (with G. Dutfield), University of Boston Legal Seminar Series. 2003, Boston, USA
  • Community design law: a new model? (with A. Folliard-Monguiral), 11th Fordham Annual Conference on International Intellectual Property Law and Policy, Fordham Law School. 2003, New York, USA
  • The new community design law (A. Folliard-Monguiral), European Intellectual Property Institutes Network Conference. 2003, Strasbourg, France
  • Design Law: Creativity and Competition, Annual Congress of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP). 2003, Tokyo, Japan
  • Collective management of copyright in Europe, European Patent Office/E.U.-ASEAN Summit on Copyright and Related Rights. 2002, Manila, Philippines
  • European design law: lessons for Asia?, Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. 2002, Singapore
  • Copyright on the internet: risks and opportunities for all stakeholders, WIPO Inter-Regional Meeting on Copyright and Related Rights. 2002, Manama, Bahrain
  • Copyright and human rights in Europe, George Washington University Legal Workshop Series. 2002, Washington, USA
  • Human Rights and Copyright, University of Western Ontario. 2002, London, Canada
  • Public interest defence under British copyright law, 10th Fordham Annual Conference on International Intellectual Property Law and Policy, Fordham Law School. 2002, New York, USA
  • Comparative perspectives on design law: EU, APEC and ASEAN, organized by Max Planck Institute for International Copyright and Industrial Property Law and the Australian Centre for Southeast Asian Law - Workshop on Harmonisation of International IPRs. 2002, Darwin, Australia
  • British unregistered design right, Annual Symposium on the European Design Regulation, British Copyright Council and Intellectual Property Institute. 2002, London
  • The economic importance of utility model protection: European Union, Asia and United States, organized by the European Commission and Institute of European Affairs - Symposium on Fostering Creativity in Asian Industries. 2001, Macao, China
  • The United Kingdom copyright tribunal, Conference on Administrative Issues organized by University of Montreal and the Canadian Copyright Tribunal. 2001, Montreal, Canada
  • E.C. Directive on Designs, International Symposium on the E.C. Design Directive, organized by the European Commission and the Italian Chamber of Commerce. 2001, Treviso, Italy
  • Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) v. Universities U.K., Intellectual Property Institute Forum conference. 2001, London
  • Legislative experience of collecting societies in the E.U., organized by the European Presidency and the Portuguese Copyright Office - Colloquium on the Collective Management of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights in the Digital Environment. 2000, Evora, Portugal
  • A Critique On The E.C. and US Database Laws, at the Annual Congress of International Association of Teachers and Researchers in Intellectual Property (ATRIP). 2000, Santorini, Greece
  • European Union harmonisation of regulation of patents and designs, organized by University of Maastricht and University of Amsterdam - Conference on Protection of Intellectual Property in the Information Age. 1998, Maastricht, Netherlands
  • Impact of Biogen v Medeva on United Kingdom biotechnology and patent law, in Annual Congress of International Association of Teachers and Researchers in Intellectual Property (ATRIP), Université Panthéon-Assas (II). 1997, Paris, France
  • International and European Aspects of Copyright Law, organized by British Council and Chinese Lawyers Association - Conference on Intellectual Property Law. 1997, Beijing, China

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