Daniel Gervais focuses on international intellectual property law, having spent 10 years researching and addressing policy issues on behalf of the World Trade Organization (GATT), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) and Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) before entering the academy. Before joining Vanderbilt Law School in 2008, Professor Gervais was Acting Dean of the Common Law Section at the University of Ottawa, where he also served as Acting Dean from February 1, 2006 until July 31, 2006, and as Vice-Dean for Research from 2003 until January 2007. Professor Gervais practiced law in Montreal from 1985 to 1990 as an associate with Clark Woods and later as a partner with the technology law firm BCF. In 1990-91, he was a consultant and legal officer with the World Trade Organization, where he was actively involved in the TRIPS Agreement negotiations. In 1992, he joined WIPO and was promoted the following year to Head of the Copyright Projects section, where he prepared WIPO studies and international meetings on the impact of digital technology on copyright and neighboring rights. In 1995, Professor Gervais joined CISAC as Assistant Secretary General, and in 1997 he moved to the United States to become director of international relations at CCC, the largest reprographic rights organization in the world. He chaired the sectoral work on culture, communications and information at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. Professor Gervais currently serves as a panelist (domain name) at the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre and was a consultant with the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Grenoble, Montpellier and Nantes in France; at the University of Haifa; and at the University of Puerto Rico, and a visiting scholar at Stanford Law School. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Amsterdam and has lectured at the Institute of European Studies of Macau. He was the 2004 Trilateral Distinguished Scholar at Michigan State University. He received an Early Researcher Award from Ontario, Canada's Ministry of Research and Innovation, the only law professor in the province to receive the award in that round. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed Journal of World Intellectual Property.
Articles
Of Clusters and Assumptions: Innovation as Part of a Full TRIPS Implementation, Fordham Law Review (2009)
Because TRIPS introduced a high(er) level of intellectual property protection in a number of developing...
The Tangled Web of UGC: Making Copyright Sense of User-Generated Content, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law (2009)
Even as a mere conceptual cloud, the term “user-generated content” is useful to discuss the...
Traditional Knowledge: Are We Closer to the Answers? The Potential Role of Geographical Indications, ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law (2009)
The debate concerning the protection of, and access to, “traditional knowledge” has been going on...
Of Silos and Constellations: Comparing Notions of Originality in Copyright Law (with Elizabeth F. Judge), Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (2009)
Originality is a central theme in the efforts to understand human evolution, thinking, innovation, and...
The Protection of Databases, Chicago-Kent Law Review (2007)
In Parts I and II of this Paper, the author analyzes the legal protection of...
Contributions to Books
A Uniquely Canadian Institution: The Copyright Board of Canada, An Emerging Intellectual Property Paradigm (2008)
Several countries have fostered the growth of Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) through legislative initiatives in...
Intellectual Property and Human Rights: Learning to Live Together, Intellectual Property and Human Rights (2008)
Intellectual property and human rights must learn to live together. Traditionally, there have been two...
The Role of International Treaties in the Interpretation of Canadian Intellectual Property Statutes, THE GLOBALIZED RULE OF LAW: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC LAW (2006)
The relationship between domestic intellectual property statutes and international law in growing in scope and...
Use of Copyright Content on the Internet: Considerations on Excludability and Collective Licensing, IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: THE FUTURE OF CANDADIAN COPYRIGHT LAW (2005)
The Internet has been a catalyst for problems latent within the copyright system. Fundamentally, the...
Presentations
The Role of Copyright Collectives in Web 2.0 Music Markets, WIPO/Vanderbilt Law School Conference of Collective Management (2007)
The flow of P2P is not under control. The laws of physics that applied to...