Titled "The Complex Trajectory of Chinese Intellectual Property Law," Yu's plenary address explored the developments of Chinese intellectual property law and policy in the past four decades. It also highlighted the geopolitical, economic and technological complications that will affect future developments. The address drew on his research on the past 50 years of English-language scholarship on the Chinese intellectual property system.
Later this year, Edward Elgar Publishing will publish a reference book set Yu has recently curated. The edited volumes in the set will draw on his research from a multi-year project. An introduction to this reference set is available online.
"Having started my research on intellectual property law in China in the late 1990s, before the country joined the World Trade Organization, I am very excited about my current project," said Yu. "This project allows me to revisit many of the seminal works published in this area in the past half-century. It also enables me to bring fresh perspectives into the classroom."
In addition to Yu, this year's plenary speakers included Professor Susy Frankel of the Faculty of Law at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, Professor Bronwyn Hall of the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, Professor David Levine of the Department of Economics at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and Professor Ralph Winter of Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Yu joined Professor Susy Frankel (Victoria University of Wellington), Professor Ralph Winter (University of British Columbia) and Professor Bronwyn Hall (University of California, Berkeley) as plenary speakers at the 9th Asia-Pacific Innovation Conference (APIC) at the Delhi School of Economics in New Delhi, India.
While in New Delhi, Yu attended the board meeting of the Asian Pacific Innovation Network, at which he was re-elected to the board for another three-year term. He previously served as a member of the founding management committee when the Network was launched at the University of Melbourne in January 2010.
Yu directs the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at Texas A&M University School of Law and holds a joint appointment at the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University. He is an award-winning teacher and a world-renowned expert on international intellectual property law. He also serves as the Director of Studies of the American Branch of the International Law Association.