Justine Pila
Professor of Law
Biography
St Catherine's webpage here.
Justine Pila came to Oxford in 2004 to take up her posts in the Law Faculty and St Catherine's College. She is also a Research Fellow at the Institute of European and Comparative Law, and until recently held a 'Professor 2' position at the University of Bergen.
Justine's research interests cover the fields of intellectual property, regulation, and law and technology, though her University post is in the field of IP specifically. She is the author of two research monographs – The Requirement for an Invention in Patent Law (OUP 2010) and The Subject Matter of Intellectual Property (OUP) – and of two text books – European Intellectual Property Law (1st edn OUP 2016 and 2nd edn OUP 2019, with PLC Torremans) and Seville's Intellectual Property Law and Policy (3rd end EE 2022). She is also the editor of several published collections, including The Oxford Handbook of Intellectual Property Law (OUP 2018, with RC Dreyfuss). Her most recent published works concern the impact of Brexit on the UK's IP system (published as Intellectual Property in P Craig and V Velyvyte (eds), The UK Regulatory Framework post-Brexit: Law Unbound (OUP 2026) ch 16), the legal conception of the inventor / invention (forthcoming as Inventor (Ownership, Patents) in P Torremans et al (eds), Elgar Encyclopedia of Intellectual Property (EE 2026) ch 38), and the justificatory basis of authors' moral rights (forthcoming as Creation, Publication, and Moral Rights: An Illocutionary Account in the Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism).
Justine's teaching covers her areas of research. At undergraduate (FHS) level she convenes and teaches the 'Law, Regulation and Technology' Jurisprudence mini-option and the 'Law and Technology' final-year option; and at graduate (BCL/MJur) level she convenes and teaches the 'Law and Technology' half-option and the Technology seminars for the Regulation option. She has also supervised many DPhil students in a range of areas over the past 20 years.
In an earlier life Justine took undergraduate degrees in Law and Arts at the University of Melbourne, worked as an IP solicitor in a large Australian firm, and was Associate to the Chief Justice of the Australian Federal Court. She completed her PhD immediately before taking up her position at Oxford, writing on the requirement for an invention.
Publications
Pila J, ‘Creation, Publication, and Moral Rights: An Illocutionary Account’ [2026] Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
Pila J, ‘COVID-19 and Contact Tracing: A Study in Regulation by Technology’ (2020) 11(2) European Journal of Law and Technology
Pila J, ‘Adapting the ordre public and morality exclusion of European patent law to accommodate emerging technologies’ (2020) 38(5) Nature Biotechnology 559
Pila J, ‘Reflections on a Post-Pandemic European Patent System’ (2020) 42(9) European Intellectual Property Review 530
Pila J, ‘Property in Human Genetic Material: An Old Legal Question for a New Technological Age’
Pila J, ‘Pluralism, Principles and Proportionality in Intellectual Property’ (2014) 34(1) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 181
Pila J, ‘Isolated Human Genes: The Patent Equivalent of a Non-Copyrightable Sound Recording’ (2014) 130(Apr) The Law Quarterly Review 180
Pila J, ‘Intellectual property rights and detached human body parts’ (2014) 40(1) Journal of Medical Ethics 27
Pila J, ‘The European patent: An old and vexing problem’ (2013) 62(4) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 917
Pila J, ‘’Sewing the fly buttons on the statute’: Employee inventions and the employment context’ (2012) 32(2) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 265
Pila J, ‘Some Reflections on Method and Policy in the Crowded House of European Patent Law and their Implications for India’ (2012) 24 National Law School of India Review
Pila J, ‘Law and the Victorians: Intellectual Property’ [2011] Journal of Legal History, Forthcoming
Pila J, ‘Software Patents, Separation of Powers, and Failed Syllogisms: A Cornucopia from the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office’ (2011) 70(1) Cambridge Law Journal 203
Pila J, ‘Copyright’ [2010] (5605) Times Literary Supplement 6
Pila J, ‘An Australian Copyright Revolution and its Relevance For UK Jurisprudence: Icetv in the Light of Infopaq v Danske’ (2010) 10(1) Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 77
Pila J, ‘Who Owns the Intellectual Property Rights in Academic Work?’ (2010) 2010 European Intellectual Property Review 609
Pila J, ‘Patents for Human Genes and Methods of Analysis and Comparison’ (2010) 126 Law Quarterly Review 534
Pila J, ‘Copyright and its categories of original works’ (2010) 30(2) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 229
Pila J, ‘Universities and the pursuit of truth’ [2010] (5577) Times Literary Supplement 6
Pila J, ‘Academic Freedom and the Courts’ (2010) 126 Law Quarterly Review 347
Pila J, ‘Chemical Product Patents and Biogen Insufficiency Before the House of Lords’ (2009) 125 Law Quarterly Review 573
Pila J, ‘Chemical Products and Proportionate Patents Before and After Generics v Lundbeck’ (2009) 20(3) King’s Law Journal 489
Pila J, ‘Authorship and e-science: Balancing epistemological trust and skepticism in the digital environment’ (2009) 23(1) Social Epistemology 1
Pila J, ‘Article 53(b) EPC: A Challenge to the Novartis Theory of European Patent History’ (2009) 72(3) Modern Law Review 436
Pila J, ‘Works of Artistic Craftsmanship in the High Court of Australia: The Exception as Paradigm Copyright Work’ (2008) 36(3) Federal Law Review 363
Pila J, ‘Works of Artistic Craftsmanship in the High Court of Australia: The Exception as Paradigm Copyright Work’ (2008) 36(3) Federal Law Review 363
Pila J, ‘An Intentional View of the Copyright Work’ (2008) 71(4) Modern Law Review 535
Pila J, ‘Compilation copyright: A matter calling for a certain ... sobriety’ (2008) 19(4) Australian Intellectual Property Journal 231
Pila J, ‘Dispute over the meaning of "Invention" in Art. 52(2) EPC - The patentability of computer-implemented inventions in Europe’ (2005) 36(2) IIC International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 173
Pila J, ‘The Highs and Lows of 2004 for European Intellectual Property Law (Japanese)’ [2004] JETRO
Pila J, ‘The Highs and Lows of 2004 for European Intellectual Property Law (English)’ [2004] JETRO
Pila J, ‘Bound Futures: Patent Law and Modern Biotechnology’ (2003) 9 Boston University Journal of Science and Technology Law 326-378
Pila J, ‘Inherent Patentability in Anglo-Australian Law: A History’ (2003) 14 Australian Intellectual Property Journal 109
Pila J, ‘Patenting Human Genes: The Australian Position’ (2001) 6 Genetics Law Monitor 10
Pila J, ‘Methods of Medical Treatment Within Australian and United Kingdom Patents Law’ (2001) 24(2) SSRN Electronic Journal
Pila J, ‘The Common Law Invention in its Original Form’ [2001] (3) Intellectual Property Quarterly
Pila J, ‘The Inherent Patentability of Methods of Medical Treatment in Australia’ [2000] Genetics Law Monitor 44841
Pila J and Christie A, ‘The Literary Work within Copyright Law: An Analysis of its Present and Future Status’ (1999) 13 Intellectual Property Journal 133
Pila J, Seville’s Intellectual Property Law and Policy (Edward Elgar 2022) 1
Pila J and Torremans P, European Intellectual Property Law (Oxford University Press 2019)
Pila J, The Subject Matter of Intellectual Property (Oxford University Press 2017) 1
Pila J, The Requirement for an Invention in Patent Law (Oxford University Press 2010)
Pila J, ‘Inventor (Ownership, Patents)’, Elgar Encyclopedia of Intellectual Property Law (Edward Elgar 2026)
Pila J, ‘Intellectual Property’ in P Craig and V Vėlyvytė (eds.), The UK Regulatory Framework Post-Brexit: ’Law Unbound’ (OUP 2026)
Pila J, ‘The authorial works protectable by copyright’ in R Eleonora (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of EU Copyright Law (Taylor & Francis 2021)
Pila J, ‘Property in Human Body Parts’, The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Health Law (Oxford University Press 2020)
Pila J, ‘Property in Human Genetic Material’ in T Hervey and D Orentlicher (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Health Law (OUP 2020)
Pila J and Dreyfuss R, ‘Intellectual Property Law: An Anatomical Overview’ in RC Dreyfuss and J Pila (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Intellectual Property Law (OUP 2018)
Torremans P and Pila J, ‘Chapter 18: Copyright and related rights: outlining a case for European morality/public policy exclusion’, Research Handbook on Copyright Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2017)
Pila J, ‘Copyright and related rights: Outlining a case for European morality/public policy exclusion’ in P Torremans (ed.), Research Handbook on Copyright Law: Second Edition (Elgar 2017)
PILA J, ‘Copyright and Related Rights: Outlining a Case for a European Morality/Public Policy Exclusion’, Copyright Law: A Handbook of Contemporary Research (Edward Elgar 2017)
Pila J, ‘Lord Hoffmann and Purposive Interpretation in Intellectual Property Law’ in PS Davies and J PILA (eds.), The Jurisprudence of Lord Hoffmann (Hart Publishing 2015)
Pila J, ‘An Historical Perspective: The Unitary Patent Package’ in J Pila and C Wadlow (eds.), Perspectives on the Unitary (EU) Patent System (Hart Publishing 2015)
Pila J and Davies P, ‘Preface’, The Jurisprudence of Lord Hoffmann (2015)
Pila J and Wadlow C, ‘Preface’, The Unitary EU Patent System (2015)
Pila J, ‘Patent eligibility and scope revisited in light of Schütz v. Werit, European law, and copyright jurisprudence’, Intellectual Property at the Edge (Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2014)
PILA J, ‘An Historical Perspective: The Unitary Patent Package’ in J PILA and W Christopher (eds.), The Unitary EU Patent System (Hart Publishing 2014)
Pila J, ‘Intellectual Property as a Case Study in Europeanization: Methodological Themes and Context’ in A Ohly and J Pila (eds.), The Europeanisation of Intellectual Property Law: Towards a European Legal Methodology (OUP 2013)
Pila J, ‘A Constitutionalized Doctrine of Precedent and the Marleasing Principle as Bases for a European Legal Methodology’, The Europeanization of Intellectual Property Law (Oxford University Press 2013)
Pila J, ‘Professional and academic employeeinventions: Looking beyond the ukparadigm’, Business Innovation and the Law: Perspectives from Intellectual Property, Labour, Competition and Corporate Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2013)
Pila J, ‘Quel droit des brevets pour l’Union Europeenne? Les enseignements de la jurisprudence de la CJUE (What Patent Law for the European Union? Lessons from the Patent Jurisprudence of the CJEU)’ in C Geiger (ed.), What Patent Law for the European Union? / Quel droit des brevets pour l’Union européenne ? (Litec 2013)
Pila J, ‘The future of the requirement for an invention: Inherent patentability as a pre- and post-patent determinant’ in E Arezzo and G Ghidini (eds.), Biotechnology and Software Patent Law: A Comparative Review of New Developments (Elgar 2011)
Pila J, David P and Spence M, ‘Institutional infrastructures for global research networks in the public sector: The value of authorship in the digital environment: Producing and protecting scientific information’, World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and Humanities (The MIT Press 2010)
Pila J, ‘7.2 The Value of Authorship in the Digital Environment: Producing and Protecting Scientific Information’, World Wide Research (The MIT Press 2010)
Pila J, ‘The Value of Authorship in the Digital Environment’ in W H Dutton and P W Jeffreys (eds.), World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and Humanities (The MIT Press 2010)
Pila J, ‘European Patent Convention’ in P Cane and J Conaghan (eds.), The New Oxford Companion to Law (OUP 2008)
Pila J, ‘Patent Agent’ in P Cane and J Conaghan (eds.), The New Oxford Companion to Law (OUP 2008)
Pila J, ‘Patent Cooperation Treaty’ in P Cane and J Conaghan (eds.), The New Oxford Companion to Law (OUP 2008)
Pila J, ‘Patents’ in P Cane and J Conaghan (eds.), The New Oxford Companion to Law (OUP 2008)
Pila J, The Oxford Handbook of Intellectual Property Law (OUP 2018)
Davies P and Pila J, The Jurisprudence of Lord Hoffmann: A Festschrift in Honour of Lord Leonard Hoffmann (Hart Publishing 2015) 1
Pila J and Wadlow C, The Unitary EU Patent System (Hart Publishing 2015) 1
Pila J, Lord Hoffmann’s Jurisprudence: A Festschrift in Honour of Lord Leonard Hoffmann (Hart Publishing 2015)
Pila J and Ohly A, The Europeanization of Intellectual Property Law Towards a European Legal Methodology (Oxford University Press 2013)
Mitchell C and Smith C, ‘English Law 1820–1914: A Review of Volumes 11–13 of the Oxford History of the Laws of England’ (2011) 32(3) The Journal of Legal History 319 (review)
Pila J, ‘On the European requirement for an invention’ (2010) 41(8) IIC International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 906 (review)
Pila J, ‘Article 52(2) of the Convention on the Grant of European Patents: What did the framers intend? A study of the travaux preparatoires’ (2005) 36(7) IIC International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 755 (review)
Pila J, ‘The Requirement for an Invention in Patent Law’ (1 November 2009)
Pila J, ‘Patentable Subject Matter: Response to a Request for Written Comments by the Australian Government’s Advisory Council on Intellectual Property’ (19 September 2008)
Pila J, ‘Copyright and Internet Browsing’ (2012) 128 Law Quarterly Review 204 (case-note)
Pila J, ‘The Star Wars Copyright Claim: An Ambivalent View of the Empire’ [2012] 128 Law Quarterly Review 15-19 (case-note)
Pila J, ‘Trumpet Software Pty Ltd v Ozemail Pty Ltd, 34 IPR 481 (Federal Court of Australia 1996)’ (1996) 10 EIPR D (case-note)
Pila J, ‘A-One Accessory Imports Pty Ltd v Off Road Imports Pty Ltd, 34 IPR 306 (Federal Court of Australia 1996)’ (1996) 11 EIPR D (case-note)
Pila J and MacPhail J, ‘Kettle Chip Co Pty Ltd v Apand Pty Ltd, 46 FCR 152 (Federal Court of Australia 1993)’ (1994) 3 EIPR D (case-note)
Pila J, ‘Dark Matters of the University’ (2019) TES Global
Pila J, ‘Recognition of distinction - a clash of institutional and scholarly values?’ (2009) Oxford Magazine
Pila J, ‘Battle for academic credit separates junior teams from heavyweights’ (2002) Sydney Morning Herald
Pila J and al E, ‘Why patents for genes aren’t patently obvious (editorial)’ (2001) The Age (Melbourne)
Pila J, ‘COVID-19 and Contact Tracing: A Study in Regulation by Technology’
Pila J, ‘Reflections on a Post-Pandemic European Patent System’
Pila J, ‘The Future of the Requirement for an Invention: Inherent Patentability as a Pre- and Post-Patent Determinant’
Pila J, ‘Copyright and its Categories of Original Works’
Pila J, ‘Methods of Medical Treatment Within Australian and United Kingdom Patents Law’
Pila J, ‘The Common Law Invention in its Original Form’
Pila J, ‘Patentable Subject Matter’ (Oxford Legal Research Paper Series 37/2008 2008)