SelectedWorks of Matthew Rimmer

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Matthew Rimmer

The Australian National University

• Associate Professor, ANU College of Law
• Australian Research Council Future Fellow

Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA)

• Associate Director


• Contact Information
• Curriculum Vitae [PDF]

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Dr Matthew Rimmer is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, working on
Intellectual Property and Climate Change. He is an associate professor at the ANU College
of Law, and an associate director of the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in
Agriculture (ACIPA). He holds a BA (Hons) and a University Medal in literature, and a LLB
(Hons) from the Australian National University. Rimmer received a PhD in law from the
University of New South Wales for his dissertation on The Pirate Bazaar: The Social Life
of Copyright Law. He is a member of the ANU Climate Change Institute. Rimmer has
published widely on copyright law and information technology, patent law and
biotechnology, access to medicines, clean technologies, and traditional knowledge. His
work is archived at SSRN Abstracts and Bepress Selected Works. 

Rimmer is the author of Digital Copyright and the Consumer Revolution: Hands off my iPod
(Edward Elgar, 2007). With a focus on recent US copyright law, the book charts the
consumer rebellion against the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act 1998 (US) and the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998 (US). Rimmer explores the significance of key
judicial rulings and considers legal controversies over new technologies, such as the
iPod, TiVo, Sony Playstation II, Google Book Search, and peer-to-peer networks. The book
also highlights cultural developments, such as the emergence of digital sampling and
mash-ups, the construction of the BBC Creative Archive, and the evolution of the Creative
Commons. Rimmer has also participated in a number of policy debates over Film
Directors' copyright, the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement 2004, the
Copyright Amendment Act 2006 (Cth), the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement 2011, and the
Trans-Pacific Partnership. 

Rimmer is the author of Intellectual Property and Biotechnology: Biological Inventions
(Edward Elgar, 2008). This book documents and evaluates the dramatic expansion of
intellectual property law to accommodate various forms of biotechnology from
micro-organisms, plants, and animals to human genes and stem cells. It makes a unique
theoretical contribution to the controversial public debate over the commercialisation of
biological inventions. Rimmer also edited the thematic issue of Law in Context, entitled
Patent Law and Biological Inventions (Federation Press, 2006). Rimmer was also a chief
investigator in an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, "Gene Patents In
Australia: Options For Reform" (2003-2005), and an Australian Research Council
Linkage Grant, "The Protection of Botanical Inventions (2003). He is currently a
chief investigator in an Australian Research Council Discovery Project, “Promoting Plant
Innovation in Australia” (2009-2011). Rimmer has participated in inquiries into plant
breeders' rights, gene patents, and access to genetic resources. 

Rimmer is a co-editor of a collection on access to medicines entitled Incentives for
Global Public Health: Patent Law and Access to Essential Medicines (Cambridge University
Press, 2010), with Professor Kim Rubenstein and Professor Thomas Pogge. The work
considers the intersection between international law, public law, and intellectual
property law, and highlights a number of new policy alternatives – such as medical
innovation prizes, the Health Impact Fund, patent pools, open source drug discovery, and
the philanthropic work of the (Red) Campaign, the Gates Foundation, and the Clinton
Foundation. Rimmer is also a co-editor of Intellectual Property and Emerging
Technologies: The New Biology (Edward Elgar, 2012), with Alison McLennan. 

Rimmer is a researcher and commentator on the topic of intellectual property, public
health, and tobacco control. He has undertaken research on trade mark law and the plain
packaging of tobacco products, and given evidence to an Australian parliamentary inquiry
on the topic. 

Rimmer is the author of a monograph, Intellectual Property and Climate Change: Inventing
Clean Technologies (Edward Elgar, September 2011). This book charts the patent landscapes
and legal conflicts emerging in a range of fields of innovation – including renewable
forms of energy, such as solar power, wind power, and geothermal energy; as well as
biofuels, green chemistry, green vehicles, energy efficiency, and smart grids. As well as
reviewing key international treaties,this book provides a detailed analysis of current
trends in patent policy and administration in key nation states, and offers clear
recommendations for law reform. It considers such options as technology transfer,
compulsory licensing, public sector licensing, and patent pools; and analyses the
development of Climate Innovation Centres, the Eco-Patent Commons, and environmental
prizes, such as the L-Prize, the H-Prize, and the X-Prizes. Rimmer is currently working
on a manuscript, looking at green branding, trade mark law, and environmental activism. 

Rimmer has also a research interest in intellectual property and traditional knowledge.
He has written about the misappropriation of Indigenous art, the right of resale,
Indigenous performers’ rights, authenticity marks, biopiracy, and population genetics. 

Rimmer has supervised three students who have completed Higher Degree Research on the
topics, ‘Secret Business and Business Secrets: The Hindmarsh Island Affair, Information
Law, and the Public Sphere’ (2007); ‘Intellectual Property and Applied Philosophy’
(2010); and 'The Pharmacy of the Developing World: Indian Patent Law and Access to
Essential Medicines' (2012). He has also supervised fifty Honours students, three
Summer Research Scholars, and two graduate research unit Masters students. 

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