Institute to Undertake New International Projects
on Trade Law and Intellectual Property

The Council in December approved Director Lance Liebman’s recommendation that the Institute begin work on innovative new projects dealing with World Trade Law and International Intellectual Property. The World Trade Law project will rigorously examine the body of decisions emerging from the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization since its creation in 1995, with a view toward eventually formulating coherent principles of the law of international trade. The drafting for this interdisciplinarily conceived project will be carried out by several two-person teams of Reporters, each consisting of one lawyer and one economist. The Intellectual Property undertaking is expected to develop principles to govern jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in international intellectual-property disputes. The latter project will begin with a planning conference to be held in April at Columbia Law School; the former will be launched in October at a Philadelphia meeting of the Reportorial teams, having been preceded by a preliminary meeting last fall at the University of Michigan.

Although it will be some time before the initial meetings of Members Consultative Groups for these projects, members interested in participating in either or both are invited to contact the Philadelphia headquarters of the Institute (ali@ali.org or fax: 215-243-1636).