Global expert on intellectual property protection and human rights speaks at Washburn Law

Photograph: Graeme Austin.Graeme Austin, a global expert in intellectual property protection and human rights, discussed recent tensions between the current international intellectual property framework and the cultural values of the world's indigenous peoples at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14, in Room 102 at the law school. Austin's visit was sponsored by the Business and Transactional Law Center at Washburn Law.

Austin's presentation, "Indigenous Peoples' Rights and Intellectual Property: Rights to Culture in Aotearoa/New Zealand," will focus on a recent tribunal decision from his native New Zealand, addressing claims by Maaoriiwi (tribes) that the New Zealand intellectual property regime is inconsistent with the New Zealand government's obligations to its indigenous groups. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss how the New Zealand tribunal's decision affects the debate about intellectual property protection in the context of indigenous societies.

Graeme Austin is chair of private law at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and professor of law at Melbourne University Law School, Australia. He is co-author, with Professor Laurence Helfer (Duke University School of Law) of "Human Rights and Intellectual Property: Mapping the Global Interface," (Cambridge University Press). Until 2010, he was the J. Byron McCormick Professor of Law at the University of Arizona.