Dr Sujitha Subramanian

Research Overview

I have published in a number of international peer-reviewed journals including International & Comparative Law Quarterly; Journal of International Economic Law; European Journal of International Law; International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law and European Intellectual Property Review, among others.

My research focuses on the identification and reinterpretation of the shifting dynamics of IP law and policies and its increasingly complex interaction with other areas of law and policy such as constitutional law, competition law, environmental law, international trade law, public health law and policy, innovation policy, cultural heritage, and technology law. My research agenda is an attempt to document the gradual transition of debates from the traditional Global North-Global South axis and the adoption of a more longitudinal shift that takes into account a conflux of actors, agendas, spaces (cyberspace) and norms that often characterises incongruent or even colliding rationalities. The consequence of this approach challenges the narrative that globalisation of IP norms is based on a linear motion of IP principles from the developed to developing world. Inevitably, I am drawn to examine the complexities and nuances of ancillary disciplines in order to gain sufficient foundational knowledge that in turn supports the examination of their interaction with IP law.

Given the broad research theme that yields various strands of research topic, my focus has been on the following lines of inquiry:
(a) Intellectual Property and Right to freedom of speech. This theme has led me to work directly on Free Speech and the Constitution (working on defamation issues in common law jurisdictions). Have also consulted for the Amercian Bar Association specifically in relation to Freedom of Speech issue in Singapore.
(b) Intellectual Property and Public Interest: The Access Debates (green technologies, medicines, public health, and Misuse and Abuse of IP law in general)
(c) Intellectual Property and Cultural Heritage (geographical indications for agricultural and non-agricultural goods in India and Uganda)
(d) Intellectual Property and Technology (artificial intelligence, digital privacy)

I have worked on various projects within the Law & Non-Communicable Diseases Unit Research Cluster since March 2017 https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/law/research/law-and-non-communicable-diseases/members-and-advisory-board/
I am a member of the European Public Health Association's Working Group on Access to Medicines since July 2023 https://eupha.org/working-group-on-access-to-medicines