Professor Ruth L. Okediji is the William L. Prosser Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota School of Law. Since 2003, she has taught contracts, international intellectual property (IP), copyright, trademarks, and IP and development. Professo Okediji is recognized worldwide as one of the foremost experts on international IP law and international economic regulation.
She is co-author of a leading copyright casebook, Copyright in a Global Information Economy (Aspen, 3rd ed., 2011), and co-author of a seminal casebook, International Patent Law and Policy (Aspen, 2013). Two additional books, Global Perspectives on Patent Law and Exceptions and Limitations in International Copyright Law, are forthcoming (Oxford, 2014). She has also authored an extensive array of articles, commissioned papers, and book chapters, and has been a reviewer and editor of the Journal of World Intellectual Property since 2009.
Her work in an expert capacity with various intergovernmental organizations has been influential in assisting many sub-Saharan African countries assess their domestic intellectual property regimes and to reconcile them with development objectives.
Professor Ukediji, whose father emigrated to the United States from Nigeria, recently served as Nigeria’s Lead Negotiator to the Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities (VIP Treaty).
Ruth Okediji of the Nigerian delegation.
Signing ceremony in the plenary hall for the Treaty for the Blind.
Although Professor Okediji has published widely and won multiple honors, she says that advocating for blind and visually impaired people is among her most important activities. “It’s the place where all of the things that have fueled my research, teaching, and scholarship have come together perfectly.”
Professor Okediji has chaired the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Committee on Law and Computers, its Committee on Intellectual Property, and its Nominating Committee for Officers and Members of the Executive Committee. In 2011-2012, she was a member of the National Academies Board on Science, Technology and Policy Committee on the Impact of Copyright Policy on Innovation in the Digital Era.
Over the course of her career, Professor Okediji has received numerous teaching, service, and professionalism honors, including the Regents’ Superior Teaching Award, the Student Bar Association’s Outstanding Professor Award, and the Professor Most Likely to Go Beyond the Call of Duty recognition. She was elected to the prestigious American Law Institute in 2008.
A graduate of the University of Jos (Nigeria) and Harvard Law School (LL.M., S.J.D.), Professor Okediji is licensed to practice law in New York and Minnesota.