Adjunct Professor
Kamal Puri

Biography

Background
Professor Puri was born in India and after obtaining three  university degrees (BA, LLB and LLM), he won a scholarship to study for  his  doctorate (PhD) at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. He was admitted as a Solicitor and Barrister in the New   Zealand High Court in Wellington and was appointed as full Professor of Law at University of Queensland in 1995, which position he now holds at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Professor Kamal Puri has established an international reputation in  the fields of intellectual property and contracts, including public  procurement, by dint of his scholarly publications and extensive  contacts with national and international organisations. His contributions to research and scholarship are demonstrated by  his six books and over 50 journal articles published in refereed  journals in almost all parts of the world, e.g., UK, U.S., Australia,  Japan, France and India. His emphasis on applying legal rules in the real world has led to his  present appointment as the foundation Director of the Intellectual Property Commercialisation Unit at the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Queensland Government.

Projects
He has successfully completed numerous research projects at an international level at the invitation of UNESCO and WIPO and several other national and regional organisations/institutions, including Oxford and Cambridge universities. His seminal work in the field of protection of cultural and  intellectual property rights of Indigenous peoples has helped him to  gain an international reputation that has led to numerous funded  invitations at international conferences. In particular, he was commissioned by UNESCO, SPC (Secretariat of  the Pacific Communities, Noumea, New Caledonia) and PIFS (Pacific  Islands Forum Secretariat, Suva, Fiji) to draft a model law and guidelines for the legal protection of traditional  knowledge and expressions of culture of Pacific Islands’ Peoples.   Twenty-six Pacific countries and territories endorsed the model law,  drafted by him, on 17 September 2002 at a meeting in Noumea.

Research Interests

• Intellectual Property Law
• Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Indigenous  Culture
• Contract Law
• Public Procurement Law