Mark F. Schultz – President
mschultz@iipresearch.org

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Mark Schultz is a Professor of Law at Southern Illinois University and President of the Institute for Intellectual Property Research. His research focuses on  law and economics of the global intellectual property system.

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Specialized research areas include trade secret law. Professor Schultz  worked with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to co-author a groundbreaking global trade secret protection index (the TSPI). The TSPI is being used to frame policy discussions on this cutting-edge topic in capitals around the world. He currently co-chairs and organizes an ongoing public-private multilateral diplomatic dialogue on best practices in drafting and implementing national trade secret laws.

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Other recent projects have included an empirical study that quantified for the first time the backlogs in patent offices worldwide, a report on how entrepreneurs in developing countries are meeting global health challenges with patented innovation, and a paper deconstructing the concept of pharmaceutical evergreening.

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Professor Schultz is frequently called on to help governments and international organizations with IP policy and capacity building. He has testified before the U.S. Congress on copyright law and briefed the staff of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the legislation that became the Defend Trade Secrets Act. He has spoken at programs hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Trade Representative, and the U.S. Copyright Office, as well as numerous universities, think tanks, and industry groups. He also served as an NGO delegate to WIPO for several years during the WIPO Development Agenda talks. Recently, Professor Schultz was invited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to serve as an expert on the U.S.-India IP Cooperation Dialogue.

 

Previously, he was co-founder of the Center for Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) at George Mason University, which he helped lead from 2012 to 2018.

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Professor Schultz graduated with honors from the George Washington University School of Law. Following law school, he was a judicial clerk for the Hon. Daniel M. Friedman of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., and the Hon. Eric G. Bruggink of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Prior to joining academia, he practiced law for a decade, serving as outside general counsel to several tech startups and helping technology companies to expand their businesses and commercialize their intellectual property in dozens of countries. He holds a B.A. International Economics from the George Washington University and has done PhD level coursework in development economics at Southern Illinois University.