Ruth L Okediji
Visiting Professor of Law
Ruth L. Okediji is the William L. Prosser Professor of Law since 2003, and, since 2006, the Solly Robbins Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Minnesota School of Law. She has been an affiliate faculty at the Interdisciplinary Research Center for the Study of Global Change since 2006. Prior to this, she was the Edith Gaylord Harper Presidential Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. She is of counsel for the firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP, in Minneapolis, and served in that same capacity, from 1997-2000, at Crowe & Dunlevy, PC, in Oklahoma City. Professor Okediji received her S.J.D. degree in 1996 and her L.L.M Degree in 1991 from Harvard Law School. She was also a teaching assistant in the Department of History and a visiting research fellow from 1992-1993. Professor Okediji received her L.L.B. in 1989, cum laude, from the University of Jos Law School, Jos, Niegeria. She was on the editorial board of the Law Student’s Journal, and held membership in the Law Student’s Society.
Professor Okediji’s subject areas are intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyright), new technologies, international intellectual property, contracts, and employment law. She has also taught introduction to intellectual property, copyright law & cyberspace, public international law, labor law, US trade law, foreign investment in emerging economies, international trade and finance, regulation of multinational corporations, and a seminar on the economic analysis of intellectual property.
Her forthcoming books, Global Perspectives on Intellectual Property Law (Oxford University Press), and Global Perspectives on Patent Law (with Margo A. Bagley & Jay Erstling) ( Oxford University Press) are due for publication in 2008. Copyright in a Global Information Economy (Aspen Law & Business, 2nd ed. 2006) was co-authored with Julie E. Cohen, Lydia Pallas Loren, Ruth Gana Okediji, & Maureen A. O’Rourke. Recent book chapters include “History Chapters for the WIPO Development Agenda”, in The Development Agenda: Global Intellectual Property and Developing Countries (Neil Weinstock Netanel, ed., Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2008); “An Enduring Legacy for the Knowledgeable Economy: UNESCO and the International Copyright System”, in Standard-Setting in UNESCO: Normative Action in Education, Science and Culture (Abdulqawi A. Yusef, ed. 2007). Articles include “WIPO-WTO Relations and the Future of Global IP Norms”, Netherlands Yearbook of International Law (forthcoming in 2008); “IP Essentialism and the Authority of the Firm,” 117 Yale Law Journal Picket Part 274 (2008), http://thepocketpart.org/2006/06/01/okediji.html. Professor Okediji’s international consulting and service experience includes a Methodology for Assessing TRIPS Implementation in Developing Countries prepared for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (April, 2008), PMU Report on Intellectual Property, Economic Partnership Agreements and Sustainable Development: Overview, Critical Considerations and Global Recommendations (June, 2007), PMU Project on Preparation of ACP Countries for EPA Negotiations (focus on competition policy and IPRs) (June-December 2006), and Member, Expert Consultative Group, South Centre Study on Regional Markets and TRIPS Flexibilities for Pharmaceuticals, Geneva, Switzerland (June-December 2006). She currently serves as part of the Expert Consultative Group for the ICTSD Initiative on Climate Technology and Trade, Geneva, Switzerland. Professor Okediji is a Member of the Board of Directors for IP-Watch, based in Geneva, Switzerland and eIFL in London, England.
