On June 4, 2018, a Chinese delegation consisting of a judge, several intellectual property officials, a lawyer and an academic visited Texas A&M University School of Law as part of a professional exchange program.
Titled “IPR [Intellectual Property Rights] Enforcement and Protection in the United States,” this exchange program was organized under the auspices of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. As stated on its website, the State Department’s program aims to provide current and emerging foreign leaders in a variety of fields with an opportunity to experience the United States firsthand and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts.
Professor Peter K. Yu, the director of the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at Texas A&M University, met with the delegates to discuss the law school offerings in the intellectual property area. He also explored the differences between studying, teaching and researching in the United States and undertaking similar activities in China.
Conducted bilingually, the meeting was lively. The delegates asked a wide array of questions, ranging from curriculum design to experiential training to academic research. Toward the end of the meeting, Yu also introduced to the delegates some of his latest research projects in the intellectual property area.
Yu has actively participated in international exchange programs sponsored by the U.S. government for close to two decades. Before joining Texas A&M University, he directed a Russian media law project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX).
His commissioned article on internet freedom for the State Department’s monthly publication has been translated to Arabic, Chinese, French, Hausa, Persian, Spanish and Vietnamese. That publication has been distributed by U.S. embassies and consulates throughout the world.
At Texas A&M University, Yu holds a joint appointment at the School of Law and the Department of Communication. Under his leadership, the Center for Law and Intellectual Property has become a leading international hub for research and education in the intellectual property field. In the past two years, the intellectual property law program at Texas A&M University School of Law has been ranked seventh in the nation based on peer surveys conducted by U.S. News and World Report.
The last time the Law School participated in the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program was two years ago. In June 2016, a group of librarians and archivists from the Caribbean region (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and St. Vincent, and the Grenadines) visited the Law School as part of a professional exchange program entitled “Librarians and Archivists as Defenders of Intellectual Property Rights.” As part of that visit, Yu delivered a presentation on the basic principles of copyright law and emerging issues in the field. Associate Dean Charlotte Ku and Professor Karin Strohbeck also met with the participants.