Over 200 academics — from junior Ph.D. candidates to senior professors — traveled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to attend the First IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference which was held January 31 and February 1, 2019, at the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).
Texas A&M Professor Irene Calboli was one of the co-organizers of the First IPIRA Conference, which is an essential part of the IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Network, also launched by Professor Calboli in June 2018. The IPIRA Network and Conference seek to provide a forum for intellectual property (IP) scholars and researchers to present and discuss their papers and works-in-progress with other academics, practitioners and policy-makers.
The First IPIRA Conference was a collaboration between Texas A&M University School of Law; the Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, IIUM; the Faculty of Law, University of Geneva; the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); the WIPO Academy; and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Malaysian Minister of Trade and Consumer Affairs, Seri Saifuddin Nasution bin Ismail, was a keynote speaker at the conference and was accompanied by the Chairman of the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) and the Director General of MyIPO.
The conference was opened by the Rector of IIUM, Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dato Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, who highlighted the important role that academics play in promoting dialogue and interactions between different regions and countries in the world in order to achieve a balanced intellectual property system.
The two-day conference comprised of 27 parallel sessions focused on a variety of topics: trademarks, patents, AI & new technologies, copyrights, access to medicines, standard essential patents, geographical indications, intellectual property rights & trade, genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
In addition to Professor Calboli, Texas A&M School of Law professors Glynn Lunney and Saurabh Vishnubhakat also presented their papers at the conference. Additionally, Professor Lunney chaired the Copyrights and Innovation session and Professor Vishnubhakat chaired the National Implementation of Intellectual Property Rights session. The full conference program is available here.
The conference included a keynote presentation by Antony Taubman, Director of the Intellectual Property Division of the World Trade Organization; a keynote presentation by Sheriff Saadallah, Executive Director, WIPO Academy, WIPO; and a keynote presentation by Dr. Shahidah Bt Shariff, Chief Executive Officer, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) Research Sdn. Bhd.
Overall, the First IPIRA Conference was a resounding success and the work of Professor Calboli and the co-organizers of the conference was well received.
Professor Calboli, part of Texas A&M's Center for Law and Intellectual Property (CLIP), is not new to this type of initiative. In June 2018, she was one of the founders and co-organizers of the IP Researchers Europe Conference. Professor Calboli also launched and organized the IPScholars Asia Conference in Singapore in 2016, 2017 and 2018, when she was a visiting professor at Singapore Management University.
CLIP and the intellectual property law program at Texas A&M University School of Law, through the work of its world-renowned faculty, is a leading international hub for research and education in the field. In addition to an intellectual property concentration for J.D. students, the program offers a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Intellectual Property degree for lawyers and a Master of Jurisprudence (M.Jur.) in Intellectual Property degree for non-lawyers. In the past two years, peer surveys conducted by U.S. News and World Report have ranked the program seventh in the nation.
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