Writing
Innovation and Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa is the most recent of my five books in the fields of innovation, intellectual property, and global trade and development. While this volume of empirical case studies reports on current realities, its sister publication, Knowledge and Innovation in Africa: Scenarios for the Future, explores pathways ahead. Earlier publications include Implementing the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Development Agenda as well as Access to Knowledge in Africa: The Role of Copyright. I am also a co-author of Canada’s leading property law casebook, and managing editor and co-author of a practitioner’s handbook on aspects of administrative law.
I have published three dozen peer-reviewed chapters and articles across the disciplines of law, business, political science, and public policy. These scholarly publications—many in top-ranked journals—complement a range of national and international policy papers, business strategy briefings, and similar outputs designed to mobilize research into action. You can also find my ideas expressed in widely read newspaper and magazine editorials accessible to professional audiences or the general public.
Featured Articles
Best Practices for Intellectual Property in International Trade Deals
Intellectual property provisions in international agreements should not be negotiated secretly, but transparently…
Does Hyperlinking Create Liability for Copyright Infringement in Canada or the European Union?
Hyperlink, by SumAll, on Flickr. This peer-reviewed article in the European Intellectual Property Review provides a timely comparative analysis of recent Canadian and European Union (EU) copyright cases regarding the nature and scope of communication rights, as applied to the issue of copyright infringement liability for hyperlinking. Mira Burri...
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Latest Articles
Judging Intellectual Property Overlaps
How do judges draw lines between different intellectual property laws? Answers are in this research examining case law in the United States and Canada on the overlap of patents and plant breeders’ rights.
A Data Commons for Food Security
In this paper my co-authors Jeremiah Baarbé, Meghan Blom and I propose a ‘data commons’, formed through a licensing model that allows farmers to benefit from the datasets to which they contribute.
All Articles
Informal Sector Innovation and IP: Concepts, Metrics, and Policy Considerations
How does innovation happen in the informal sector? To answer these questions our interdisciplinary framework…
Copyright Royalty Stacking: Multiple Payments for Music Licensing
Copyright is a bundle of rights which requires a variety of licenses to use. Copyright royalty stacking means the layering of multiple payments for permission to use copyright-protected materials. It is a phenomenon commonly encountered in copyright licensing transactions, especially music licensing. My book chapter in Michael Geist’s edited collection, “The...
International Trade in Biofuels: Legal and Regulatory Issues
Governments around the world are betting heavily on biofuels as one part of a solution to a wide range of public policy challenges, from environmental sustainability in the face of climate change, to energy security given rising geopolitical instability, to economic growth especially in rural regions and developing countries....
Supreme Court Copyright Decisions Will Grow the Market for Digital Content
Five landmark decisions released by the Supreme Court of Canada will streamline copyright licensing and help to grow the online market for digital content protected by copyright. That is my argument in this editorial published in the Financial Post. Supreme Court, by Alex Nobert, on Flickr. As well as...
Standards of Review
How do federal courts decide when to defer to the expertise of administrative tribunals, and when to overturn a decision on appeal or judicial review? The answers are in this book, now in its 4th edition. The book was originally co-authored, and has been revised and updated, with a...
A Property Law Reader
Studying property law for the first time? Here’s Canada’s most widely used casebook on the subject, including cases, questions and commentary on a range of fundamental and cutting-edge property law issues.
Intellectual Property Issues in CETA: The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
The Canada-EU Trade Environment Technology Exchange, a project led by Jeremy de Beer and Debra Steger Key intellectual property issues being negotiated in the Canada-EU CETA may be hard to implement, given the constitutional law governing Canada’s federal system. In “Implementing International Trade Agreements in Federal Systems” I explain...
L’accès au savoir en Afrique : Le rôle du droit d’auteur
L’accès au savoir en Afrique Ce livre, L’accès au savoir en Afrique : Le rôle du droit d’auteur, permet de mieux saisir les enjeux juridiques et pratiques que posent les droits d’auteur pour l’accès au matériel didactique en Afrique et cerne les leçons apprises, les politiques et les pratiques...
How Intellectual Property Jurisdiction Impacts Biomedical Innovation for Better Health
The future of health care is being shaped by biotechnology. New technologies are providing patients with earlier diagnoses and superior treatment options. At the same time, developers of these technologies are seeking ways to maximize financial and strategic returns on their investments, and intellectual property is a primary vehicle...
Network Governance of Biofuels: Can Policymakers Coordinate Multi-level Regulation?
Biofuels, by Steve Jurvetson, on Flickr. “Network Governance of Biofuels” promotes a regulation and governance framework for biofuels that, while not necessarily simpler, let alone harmonized, is more coordinated and better rationalized. The analysis in this working paper is presented in two major sections, following a more detailed discussion in...