Susy’s research focuses on international intellectual property law. She teaches courses in intellectual property (including copyright, patents and trade marks), patent law and innovation, global intellectual property issues, international trade law and the protection of mātauranga Māori (traditional knowledge) and regulation. She has published numerous books, articles and book chapters and is frequently invited to give conference presentations on various aspects of intellectual property law and policy. She is Director of the New Zealand Centre of International Economic Law. Between 2011 and 2013 Susy was the Project Leader of the New Zealand Law Foundation Regulatory Reform Project, funded to NZ$1.8 million. The project produced a cutting-edge regulatory toolkit.
Before joining Victoria University of Wellington, in 1997, Susy practiced law in New Zealand and London. Susy qualified as Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 1988 and as a Solicitor of England & Wales in 1991.
Susy was President (2015–2017) of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research of Intellectual Property (ATRIP).
In 2020 she is a Global Professor at NYU Law School. She has been a visiting Professor at the University of Haifa (Reinhold Cohen Visiting Chair) 2014; University of Western Ontario 2012; Fellow of Clare Hall, University of Cambridge and visitor to the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Cambridge, Michalmas term 2008; visiting Professor, University of Iowa 2000; and between 2013 and 2014 she was a Senior Fulbright Scholar and Hauser Global Fellow at New York University.
Appointments and memberships
Chair and Member of the Copyright Tribunal (NZ), August 2008-2019.
President 2015–2017—International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP), Member of the ATRIP Executive Committee since 2011.
Neutral for WIPO, Geneva, World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Centre, Geneva, Switzerland, 2004–(ongoing).
Board member, Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (NZ) 2012– (ongoing).
Assistant Commissioner of Trade Marks, Patents and Designs, Hearings Officer for the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, a quasi-judicial position for a specialist tribunal for 1998–2006.
Consultant Expert to Waitangi Tribunal on the WAI 262 flora fauna and indigenous intellectual property claim (Waitangi Tribunal Report, 2011 Ko Aotearoa Tēnei).
Editorial Board, Journal of World Intellectual Property.
Member of the Advisory Board of Legal Studies, Journal of the Society of Legal Scholars.
Editorial Board, Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property.
Editorial Advisory Board, University of Western Australia Law Review.
General Editor (joint) New Zealand Universities Law Review 2004–2005.
Editorial Board, Victoria University of Wellington Law Review 1998–2006.
Areas of supervision
International intellectual property law and policy
Copyright
Patents
Trade marks
Indigenous people’s innovation and traditional knowledge
International trade law
Regulation and Regulatory Theory
Civil Remedies.
Current research
Susy’s current research projects include:
The Interpretation of International Intellectual Property Agreements.
“Mission Creep”—the effects of regulatory regime shifting from patents to data protection.
Selection of publications
“Traditional Knowledge, Indigenous Peoples, and Local Communities” in Rochelle Dreyfuss and Justine Pila (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Intellectual Property Law (Online Publication, Oxford Handbooks, Nov 2017) www.oxfordhandbooks.com pp 1-34.
Test Tubes for Global Intellectual Property Issues: Small Market Economies (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2015) 230 pp.
(with Dreyfuss R) “From Incentive to Commodity to Asset: How International Law is Reconceptualizing Intellectual Property” (2015) 36 Michigan Journal of International Law pp 101-142 SSRN.
(with Peter Drahos) Indigenous Peoples Innovation: Intellectual Property Pathways to Development (ANU epress, 2012) download.
Intellectual Property In New Zealand (2nd edition, Lexis Nexis, Wellington, July 2011) 900 pp.
“Challenging TRIPS—Plus FTAs—the Potential Utility of Non-Violation Complaints” (2009) 12(4) Journal of International Economic Law pp. 1023-1065.
