Dalindyebo Shabalala

Dalindyebo Shabalala is a Professor of Law at the Suffolk University Law School. His primary teaching responsibilities are in Intellectual Property and Environmental Law as well Business Law and Contracts.

Prof. Shabalala’s research focuses on the interaction of intellectual property law, especially patent law, with the rights of indigenous peoples and climate change law. He conducts research on the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional communities to their traditional knowledge and culture and the role of international intellectual property treaties in enabling or preventing the realization of those rights.

Prof. Shabalala has published in several edited volumes, and has published a book “Climate Change, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property – Options for Action at the UNFCCC”, Maastricht University (2014) available in print from Amazon and electronically. His reflections on his research and policy work can be found on his blog.

He has a partial appointment as Assistant Professor of International Economic Law (Intellectual property) at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He teaches European and Comparative Intellectual Property at the Masters level and is a fellow in the Institute for Globalisation and International Regulation (IGIR) (www.igir.org). Prof. Shabalala was Professor at the University of Dayton School of Law until 2023, Visiting Assistant Professor at CWRU School of Law from 2014 – 2017 and Assistant Professor of International Economic Law at Maastricht University from 2009 – 2014. He was also Managing Attorney of the Center for International Environmental Law’s Geneva office, and Director of CIEL’s Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development Project. He focused on issues at the intersection of intellectual property and climate change, human health, biodiversity and food security, as well as addressing systemic reform of the international intellectual property system. He is the Vice Chair of CIEL’s Board of Trustees.

Education

PhD, Maastricht University, Netherlands PhD, October 2014, “Climate Change, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Rights: Options for Action at the UNFCCC” Supervisor: Prof. Anselm Kamperman Sanders

JD, University of Minnesota Law School, MN, May 2004 cum laude

BA, Vassar College, NY, U.S.A. Bachelor of Arts, May 1998, Major in Political Science, Major in Cognitive Science

Publications

Articles

“Solomon Linda, Traditional Knowledge Pirate? Mbube, ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ and Entry/Exit rules for Traditional Knowledge” 12 Queen Mary’s Journal of Intellectual Property 4 (2023).

Climate Change, Technology Transfer, and Intellectual Property: A 'Modest Proposal' For an IP Enforcement Moratorium, 31 Fordham Envtl. L. Rev. 1 (2020). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/elr/vol31/iss1/5

“Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, and Traditional Cultural Expressions in Native American Tribal Codes” 51 Akron Law Review 1125 (2017). Available at: https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/akronlawreview/

“Access to Trade Secret Environmental Information: Are TRIPS and TRIPS Plus Obligations a Hidden Landmine?" 55 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 648 (2017). Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2882146

Books

Climate Change, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property: Options for Action at the UNFCCC, Maastricht University, October 2014. Available at: https://dalishabalala.wordpress.com/book-climate-change-technology-transfer-and-intellectual-property/

Book Chapters

“Climate Change, Human Rights, and Technology Transfer: Normative Challenges and Technical Opportunities” in Molly K. Land and Jay D. Aronson (eds.) New Technologies for Human Rights Law and Practice Cambridge University Press, 2018. Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3238430

"The impact of commercial advertising and marketing practices on the enjoyment of cultural rights – Report 2014 (A/69/286)" in Lucky Belder and Helle Porsdam (eds.) Negotiating Cultural Rights Issues at Stake, Challenges and Recommendations Edward Elgar, 2017. Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3238418