Designation: Senior Lecturer
Email: desmond.oriakhogba@univen.ac.za
Office: F05
Tel: 015 962 8295

Qualifications

i. PhD, University of Cape Town, 2019. Thesis Title: ‘Strengthening the regulation regimes for collecting societies in South Africa and Nigeria: any room for competition law?’
ii. LLM, University of Benin, University of Benin, Nigeria, 2014. By coursework and mini dissertation. Dissertation title: ‘Legal mechanism for enforcement and regulation of copyright in Nigeria: a comparative analysis’.
iii. LLB, University of Benin, Nigeria, 2007.

Expertise

Intellectual property law, competition law, international trade law (interest in African regional trade law), artificial intelligence and law (focus on the intersection with intellectual property law), International human rights law

Publications (selected)

i. Artificial Intelligence and the Law in Africa (LexisNexis, 2022) (with CB Ncube, T Schonwetter and I Rutenberg [eds]) forthcoming: Edited Book.
ii. Copyright, Collective Management Organisations, and Competition in Africa: Regulatory Perspectives from Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya (Cape Town: JUTA, 2021): Book.
iii. Intellectual Property Law in Nigeria: Emerging Trends, Theories and Practice (Benin City: Paclerd Press, 2021) (with IA Olubiyi): Book.
iv. Guide to Graduate Research: Projects, Dissertations and Theses 2ed. (Benin City: Ambik Press, 2021) (with NE Ojukwu-Ogba, SO Oyakhire and NE Unuigbe [eds]): Edited Book.
v. ‘Access to the Internet as a Human Right’ in DM Chirwa and CB Ncube The Internet, Development, Human Rights and the Law in Africa (Routledge, 2022) (with DM Chirwa) forthcoming: Book chapter.
vi. ‘The Role of Regional Mechanisms for the Protection of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ in M Langford and KG Young Oxford Handbook on Economic and Social Rights (Oxford University Press, 2022) (with D Chirwa) forthcoming: Book chapter.
vii. ‘Regulation of Collective Management Organisations in South Africa’ (2019) 10 WIPO-WTO Colloquium Papers 171-187.
viii. ‘Negotiating the Intellectual Property Protocol under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement: Priorities and Opportunities for Nigeria’ (2022) 15(1) Law and Development Review 33-62 (with A Adewopo and CI Okorie).
ix. ‘DABUS gains territory in South Africa and Australia: revisiting the AI-inventorship question’ (2021) 9 South African Intellectual Property Law Journal 87-108.
x. ‘Posthumous control of copyright, its limitations and the public interest’ (2021) 8(2) Journal of Comparative Law in Africa 32-62 (with GK Adeola-Adedipe).
xi. ‘Multi-territorial Digital Copyright Licensing within the AfCFTA: Considerations for Appropriate Guiding Principles’ (2021) 43(11) European Intellectual Property Review 710-720 (with CI Okorie).
xii. ‘What if DABUS came to Africa? Visiting AI Inventorship and Ownership of Patent from the Nigerian Perspective’ (2021) 42(2) Business Law Review 89-99.
xiii. ‘Implications of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code on Broadcast Copyright and Competition’ (2021) 70(7) GRUR International – Journal of European and International IP Law 644-655 (with IA Olubiyi).
xiv. ‘Applying Competition Regime to Collective Management Organizations in Nigeria: Lessons from US and EU Law’ (2020) 1(1) Journal of Contemporary Commercial and Industrial Law 1-32 (UNIPORT).
xv. ‘Beyond the Marrakesh VIP Treaty: typology of copyright access-enabling provisions for persons with disabilities’ (2020) 23(3-4) Journal of World Intellectual Property 149-165 (with CB Ncube and BE Reid).
xvi. ‘Empowering rural women crafters in KwaZulu-Natal: the dynamics of intellectual property, traditional cultural expressions, innovation and social entrepreneurship’ (2020) 137(1) South African Law Journal 145-172.

Conference Presentations (selected)

i. Panel discussion on “Assets and Challenges for the Adoption of the Law on Geographical Indications in Nigeria” at the National Conference on Creating Legal and Institutional Frameworks for Geographical Indications in Nigeria, part of the EU and EU Intellectual Property (EUIPO) funded project – Intellectual Property Rights & Innovation in Africa (AfrIPI) on 17-18 February 2022 at the Conference Room, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria.
ii. “Multi-territorial Digital Copyright Licensing within the AfCFTA: Considerations for Appropriate Guiding Principles” at the 10th Annual Conference of the African Society of International Law (AfSIL), 29-30 October 2021 (virtual). Co-presentation, with CI Okorie.
iii. “Overcoming the Challenges of Intellectual Property and Promoting Cultural Heritage Through Social Entrepreneurship in South Africa” at the 5th Biennial Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, 26-30 October 2020: University College London, United Kingdom (virtual).
iv. “Working around the Gender Gap in Intellectual Property Regimes: Empowerment of Women Beadworkers through Open, Inclusive Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa” at the 4th annual conference of the Law and Development Research Network (LDRN), 25-27 September 2019: Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
v. “Regulation of Collecting Societies in South Africa: Exploring the Interface Between Copyright and Competition Law” at the World Intellectual Property Organisation – World Trade Organisation 16th Colloquium for Teachers of Intellectual Property, 17-29 June 2019: Geneva Switzerland.
vi. “Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, Gender Equality and Benin Bronze Casting Art: Setting a Research Agenda” at the International Conference of the Commission on Legal Pluralism, 22-24 August 2018: University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.

Awards (selected)

I. Arcadia Project on the Right to Research in International Copyright supported by the Arcadia Foundation – a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. The project is managed by the Academic Network on the Right to Research in International Copyright convened by the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) of the American University of Washington College of Law (AUWCL): July 2021.
II. University of South Carolina, USA – Electronic Information for Libraries’ (eIFL): Arcadia Project on the right to research in international copyright: June 2021.
III. Research grant by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) through the Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR) Network: March – November 2020.
IV. University of Cape Town’s Dean of Law Postdoctoral research fellowship: May 2019 – March 2021
V. Queen Elizabeth (Advanced Scholars) Scholarship awarded by the Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship Program through the Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR) Network: July 2018 – April 2019.
VI. University of Cape Town, Law Faculty Doctoral Scholarship: 2017 and 2018

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