Michael Blakeney

Michael Blakeney is Emeritus Professor, Winthrop Professor of Law, and Senior Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia Faculty of Law, where he coordinates Industrial and Intellectual Property Law and serves as Staff Editor of the University of Western Australia Law Review. He earned a BA, LLB, and LLM from the University of Sydney, and an MA from the University of New South Wales. In July 2023, he became the first recipient of a Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree from the UWA Law School, recognizing his thirty years of research in international intellectual property law, and was appointed a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. Blakeney commenced his professional career as a barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and worked in the Asia Pacific Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization. His academic appointments include Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales School of Law; Visiting Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford University; Commonwealth Fellow at the University of Warwick School of Law; Herchel Smith Senior Research Fellow and later Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary University of London, where he directed the Intellectual Property Research Institute and the Centre for Commercial Law Studies; Dean and Professor of Law at Murdoch University; and Yong Shook Lin Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore. He is an arbitrator with the International Court of Arbitration.

Blakeney's research focuses on international intellectual property law, regulating access to genetic resources, protecting traditional knowledge, food regulation, biotechnological patenting, and intellectual property enforcement, with particular emphasis on agriculture and innovation. He has produced 177 research outputs, including 25 books such as The Protection of Geographical Indications: Law and Practice, Third Edition (2024), Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: A Concise Guide to the TRIPs Agreement (1996), Intellectual Property Rights and Food Security, and IP Rights and Food (2024). A leading scholar in intellectual property and agriculture, his work has influenced knowledge exchange practices globally across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Pacific. Blakeney has advised the Asian Development Bank, Consulting Group for International Agricultural Research, European Commission, European Patent Office, Food and Agriculture Organization, World Bank, World Intellectual Property Organization, and governments of ASEAN countries, the Southern Africa Development Community, Melanesian Spearhead Group nations, Australia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia on technology transfer, intellectual property management, and policy. Awards include the UWA Law School Senior Research Award (2023) and Herchel Smith and Commonwealth Fellowships.

Professional Email: michael.blakeney@uwa.edu.au