The past few decades have been witness to a number of important developments with respect to the global intellectual property (IP) system, including shifts in focus between multilateralism and bilateralism/regionalism; growing recognition of the various ways in which IP intersects with and impacts areas including human rights, development, trade, and social justice; broad acknowledgement of the economic value of many IP rights; and important theoretical interventions that have challenged the values underlying the global IP system.
These developments have occurred alongside several other events, changes, and crises that have altered the landscape of our global communities. Chief among them are climate change; armed conflicts; the COVID-19 pandemic; economic changes to work; technological shifts including those relating to the internet and artificial intelligence, and their role in society; and growing recognition of the inequities that exist within and between societies as well as the ways in which these inequities are reinforced and maintained through systemic discrimination and ongoing colonialism.
Given these developments, changes, and crises, what is the future of IP law and policy? Featuring contributions from scholars from across Canada and around the world, this collection offers insights into eighteen possible futures for the global IP system.
Collectively, these chapters re-envision international agreements; rethink Canadian IP law; argue for the creation of space for Indigenous legal traditions; highlight the promises and perils of technology as it relates to IP; expose inequities and injustices, and provide possible pathways to correct them.

Graham J Reynolds is an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Law. He teaches and researches in the areas of copyright law, intellectual property law, property law, and intellectual property and human rights. Prior to joining the UBC Faculty of Law in 2013, Graham was an Assistant Professor at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, where he was the Co-Editor in Chief of the Canadian Journal of Law and Technology and a member of Dalhousie University’s Law and Technology Institute. The recipient of an award for excellence in teaching, Graham has completed graduate studies at the University of Oxford, where he studied on a Rhodes Scholarship, and has served as the judicial law clerk to the Honourable Chief Justice Finch of the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Graham is currently completing doctoral studies in law at the University of Oxford. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation supported his doctoral work, which focuses on the intersection of freedom of expression and copyright in Canada.

 

Graham J. Reynolds' profile page

Alexandra Mogyoros' profile page

Teshager Dagne's profile page

Bassem Awad's profile page

Sara Bannerman's profile page

Mauro Barelli's profile page

Enrico Bonadio's profile page

Andrea Cabello's profile page

Naama Daniel's profile page

Cheryl Dine's profile page

Mistrale Goudreau is Full Professor at the Civil Law Section of the University of Ottawa where she has been teaching since 1982. Her areas of teaching include intellectual property, law and technology, and statutory interpretation. In the past, Mistrale Goudreau has acted as the Assistant Dean for clinical and applied teaching and the Vice Dean of the Civil Law Section of the University of Ottawa. She is a member of the executive committee of the editorial board of Les cahiers de propriété intellectuelle. She has published numerous articles on copyright, unfair competition, legislative drafting, and legal theory. She recently authored a book entitled International Encyclopaedia of Laws: Intellectual Property Law in Canada, (Alphen aan den Rijn (Netherlands): Kluwer Law International, 2013).

 

Mistrale Goudreau's profile page

Gregory Hagen's profile page

Johnny Mack's profile page

Lisa Macklem's profile page

Faith Majekolagbe's profile page

Richard Overstall is a lawyer with a particular interest acting for indigenous groups constituted under their own laws.

Richard Overstall's profile page

Anmol Patel's profile page

Andelka Phillips' profile page

Luciano Povoa's profile page

Cody Rei-Anderson's profile page

Anthony Rosborough's profile page

Myra Tawfik is a professor of law and the EPICentre Professor of IP Commercialization and Strategy at the University of Windsor. She is also a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She is an expert in IP law, especially copyright, trademarks, confidential information / trade secrets and industrial designs.

Myra Tawfik's profile page

David Watson's profile page

Peter Yu's profile page

Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa, where he holds the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law. He has obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees from Cambridge University in the UK and Columbia Law School in New York, and a Doctorate in Law (J.S.D.) from Columbia Law School.

Dr. Geist has written numerous academic articles and government reports on the Internet and law, is a nationally syndicated columnist on technology law issues for the Toronto Star and Ottawa Citizen, is the editor of Internet and E-commerce Law in Canada and the Canadian Privacy Law Review (Butterworths), and is the author of the textbook Internet Law in Canada (Captus Press), which is now in its third edition. He is the author of the popular BNA's Internet Law News and maintains a popular blog on Internet and intellectual property law issues.

Dr. Geist is actively involved in national Internet policy development and was a member of Canada's National Task Force on Spam. He has received numerous awards for his work, including Canarie's IWAY Public Leadership Award for his contribution to the development of the Internet in Canada, and he was named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 in 2003.

Michael Geist's profile page