Reframing Intellectual Property Law in Sri Lanka : Lessons from the Developing World and Beyond

This book is a reflection on domestic intellectual property lawmaking from a developing country’s perspective. It focuses on Sri Lanka—a South Asian jurisdiction with a socio-economic, cultural, and political landscape similar to other developing nations in the region, but the intellectual property regime of which has been less explored. The aim of this book is to address the discrepancies, gaps, and flaws in the national intellectual property legal framework of Sri Lanka. In doing so, the book considers Sri Lanka’s obligations under TRIPS and other related intellectual property treaties to which the country is a party. The book also examines approaches adopted by developing countries in the region and beyond, as well as other more developed nations, in calibrating Sri Lanka’s domestic intellectual property regime to better address the country’s domestic needs and national interests. The approach adopted in this book is of relevance, more generally, to policymakers, legislators, legal academics, scholars, jurists, legal practitioners and judges who are keen on exploring the extent to which domestic intellectual property legislation complies with international intellectual property norms and standards and, more importantly, the extent to which domestic law makes use of the flexibilities under international law in addressing domestic needs and national interests.

Althaf Marsoof is an Assistant Professor attached to the Division of Business Law of the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He also serves as a Fellow of NTU’s prestigious Renaissance Engineering Programme. Prior to joining NTU, he spent three years at the Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London, where he completed his doctoral research that explored approaches to holding internet intermediaries accountable for infringements of trade mark rights. His research was fully funded by the Dickson Poon Scholarship. This research was also the basis for his monograph titled Internet Intermediaries and Trade Mark Rights, published in June 2019. Before moving into full-time academia, he worked as a State Counsel attached to the Attorney General’s Department in Sri Lanka. Althaf holds a Bachelor of Science from the Curtin University of Technology, a Master of Laws from the University of Cambridge, a Master of Philosophy from the University of Queensland, and a Doctor of Philosophy from King’s College London.

Kanchana Kariyawasam is an Associate Professor at the Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Colombo, a Master of Laws (Advanced) from the University of Queensland, and a Doctor of Philosophy from Griffith University. She specialises in the field of intellectual property law.  She is an Adjunct Research Fellow of the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA) in Australia and a Member of the Law Futures Centre and Griffith Asia Institute (GAI) at Griffith University. She was a visiting researcher at the University of Meiji and Kanazawa University in Japan, where she collaborated on several research projects in the area of patent law. Prior to joining Griffith University, she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Chamila Talagala is a member of the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA). Formerly, he was a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University in Sri Lanka and a Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka. He has previously held academic positions at Griffith University, the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and the Open University of Sri Lanka. Chamila's doctoral research at Griffith University on copyright and access to knowledge was fully funded by two prestigious postgraduate research scholarships. He has authored a number of national and international research publications and is also the author of a monograph titled Copyright Law and Translation: Access to Knowledge in Developing Economies. Chamila holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Colombo, a Master of Laws from the University of Colombo and a Doctor of Philosophy from Griffith University.