Dr Alison Slade

Alison Slade joined Leicester Law School in September 2017. She is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Oxford Research Fellow of the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. While completing her doctorate Alison also held the position of Stipendiary Lecturer at St Catherine’s College Oxford.

Alison specialises in Intellectual Property Law and her most recent research is examining the nexus between intellectual property rights and licensing. Alison’s work has been published in leading generalist and specialist law journals including International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Intellectual Property Quarterly, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, and Journal of World Intellectual Property. Her work has also received funding under the ESRC's Impact Accelerator Award. 

Alison's expertise lies in the interpretation and application of intellectual property laws to better reflect the underlying objectives of the IP system. There are currently two streams to Dr Slade's research activities. The first focusses upon the interpretation of international IP instruments and the extent to which they permit a contextual view of international IP obligations such that Member States can tailor their intellectual property laws to suit national levels of development. The second stream looks at the emergence of new technologies and how they challenge the boundaries of the law with a particular focus on intellectual property regulation and licensing.

Anderson M, Coblitz BA, Contreras JL, Ferguson SM, Hawkins N, Miller A, Slade A. 'R2B Contracts: complexities and considerations when contracting with universities and other not-for-profit research organisations' (2025) Les Nouvelles Forthcoming. 

Anderson M, Hawkins N, Slade A, 'Contracts and intellectual property rights in translational R&D: furthering safeguards in the public interest' (2024) 42(2) Nature Biotech 179-182.

Slade, A. 'Plausibility: A Route to Stronger and More Robust Patents?' in D. Matthews and P. Torremans, Research Handbook on European Patent Law: The EPC, the European Patent with Unitary Effect, and the Unified Patent Court (de Gruyter Publishing 2023)

Slade, A., Hawkins, N. 'Intellectual Property Rights and Advanced Purchase Agreements in a Crisis' (2023) IPQ 1.

Slade, A, 'SEPs, FRAND and the Internet of Medical Things: Repositioning the Access to Healthcare Debate' in Naomi L Hawkins (ed), Patenting Biotechnological Innovation: Eligibility, Ethics and Public Interest (Edward Elgar, 2022)

Slade, A, 'Plausibility: A conditio sine qua non of Patent Law' (2020) Intellectual Property Law Quarterly 180-203.

Slade, A. 'National Courts and their Role in the Development of International IP Law and Policy: Reflections on India' in Susy Frankel (ed), Is Intellectual Property Pluralism Functional? (Edward Elgar, 2019).

Slade, A. 'The "Objectives" and "Principles" of the WTO TRIPS Agreement: A Detailed Anatomy' (2016) 53 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 948-998.

Slade, A. 'Good Faith and the TRIPS Agreement: Putting Flesh on the Bones of the TRIPS "Objectives" (2014) 63 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 353-383

Slade, A. 'Articles 7 and 8 of the TRIPS Agreement: A Force for Convergence within the International IP System', (2011) 14 Journal of World Intellectual Property 413-440

Dr Slade welcomes requests for research supervision in all areas of intellectual property law. Proposals that fall within her areas of expertise are especially welcome - international IP patent law licensing. Dr Slade is happy to discuss research proposals.

Dr Slade is Convenor for the undergraduate Intellectual Property Law module. She is also Co-convenor of the following postgraduate modules - 'Contemporary Challenges in Intellectual Property Law' and 'Intellectual Property Law for International Business'. Alison also teaches EU Law.

Intellectual Property

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy: February 2016.

Research Fellow - Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre University of Oxford 2015-present.

Research Fellow - Centre for Rights and Equality in Health Law (CREHL) 2022-present.

Visiting Lecturer (Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice) - Faculty of Law University of Oxford 2016-present.

Research Member - Patent Scholars Network  2017-present.

Member - Centre for European Law and Internationalisation (CELI) Leicester - 2017-present. 

Selected presentations:

29 June 2023 'Understanding Best Practice for Intellectual Property Contract Terms: Lessons from Covid-19 Vaccine Procurement' The Future of the Global IP System, University of British Columbia.

15 Sept 2022 ‘IP licensing in a pandemic context – what can we learn from Covid-19 vaccine public procurement?’ EPIP 2022, University of Cambridge.

7 Sept 2022 ‘IP and Access in a Pandemic Context – The Role of State Contracts’ SLS Conference, Kings College, London.

4 Mar 2021 ‘Plausibility - The conditio sine qua non of patent law’ Invited speaker at the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law University of Cambridge.

20 Nov 2019 ‘eHealth: Giving Meaning to the ‘F’ in FRAND’ Paper presented at symposium on Patents and Emerging Technologies held at the Wellcome Library in London.

20 June 2019 ‘FRAND: An eHealth based assessment’ Paper presented at the Patent Scholars Network Maynooth University Ireland.

11 Apr 2019 ‘Plausibility - The conditio sine qua non of patent law’ Paper presented at Patent Scholars Network University of Exeter

6 July 2017 ‘Facilitated Licensing and Access to Patented Medicines: Evaluating the Impact of Licensing Terms and Conditions’ Paper presented at CIPPM Research Seminar Bournemouth University.

19 June 2017 ‘Facilitated Licensing and Access to Patented Medicines: Evaluating the Impact of Licensing Terms and Conditions’ Paper presented at Science Culture and the Law Research Group University of Exeter.

27 June 2016 ‘National Courts and their Role in the Development of International Intellectual Property Law and Policy’ 35th ATRIP Congress, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.

1 Dec 2012 ‘Article 7 of the TRIPS Agreement – “A form of the good faith principle”’. Arizona State University Conference on the International Aspects of IP Law. Conference sponsored by the American branch of the International Law Association and American Society of International Law. 

LLB(Hons) 

LLM (Lond)

DPhil (Oxon)