Partnership with Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre

TRAIL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre (OIPRC) that establishes a formal link in order to further the academic purposes of the centres, including but not limited to carrying out high quality research in all aspects of national, international, transnational, and comparative law relating to technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence; promoting research activities involving academics, practitioners, and policymakers; and encouraging early career researchers in the relevant fields.

The cooperation between TRAIL and OIPRC will be for three years in the first instance (commencing on 1 December 2022), with the possibility of renewal. TRAIL presently has similar MOUs with the Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia (IPRIA), Centre for Media & Communications Law (CMCL) at Melbourne Law School, and the Law & Technology Centre at University of Hong Kong.

The Dean of NUS Law, Professor Simon Chesterman, said: “NUS Law is delighted to formalise a collaborative relationship between TRAIL and OIPRC this year. Professors Dev Gangjee and Robert Burrell have previously taught intensive modules in our LLM (IP & Technology Law) programme, and we look forward to welcoming more teaching visits and embarking on new research projects with OIPRC. Dev and Robert are presently working with Professor David Tan, co-director of TRAIL, on a fashion and intellectual property book that will be published by Cambridge University Press.”

Professor Dev Gangjee, Director of OIPRC, said: “We are delighted to be partnering TRAIL and NUS on a more formal basis. New technologies invite legal and regulatory experimentation. This collaboration allows us to develop richer and more comparatively informed perspectives when assessing the merits of different regulatory approaches. We’re already jointly planning ways in which to make this collaboration tangible and meaningful.”

The Co-Director of TRAIL, Associate Professor Daniel Seng, added: “TRAIL and OIPRC have a history of collaboration and exchange and we look forward to deepening this relationship. In October 2021, Dev, Christophe Mazenc (WIPO Director for Global Databases Service), and I held a session on the impact of AI on trademark examination, registration, and enforcement at the Trade Mark Law and Artificial Intelligence workshop for international scholars, policymakers, and stakeholders. I am confident we will be able to organise more of such transnational virtual sessions in the next few years.”