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January 1, 2005

Featured: Silke Von Lewinski

By Sharon Callahan

Pierce Law: A Magazine for Alumni and Friends of Franklin Pierce Law Center, Winter 2005 - Vol. 9, No. 1

Silke Von Lewinski

DR. SILKE VON LEWINSKI

Head, Department of International Law and Developing Countries
Max-Planck Institute,Munich, Germany

Noted author, lecturer, and international intellectual property expert, Dr. Silke Von Lewinski serves as head of the Department of International Law and Developing Countries at the Max-Planck Institute in Munich, Germany, one of the world’s premiere intellectual property research centers.

“My work involves basic research in my favorite fields of international, European and comparative copyright law from which I choose issues which I consider most cutting- edge and important for the future, “ says Von Lewinski. “I also answer requests from international organizations such as WIPO for which I recently completed a study on audiovisual performers’ rights in Germany, and expect to complete two UNESCO studies in early 2005.”

Von Lewinski’s teaching career at Pierce Law began in 1993 when she designed a new three-week course on International & Comparative Copyright Law, a course she has now taught more than 20 times.

“My course started out as a one-credit course with no more than five students, and has become a two-credit course with often up to 30 students. The development in this area has been so breathtakingly rapid, that today, there are three more multilateral treaties of major importance than in 1993,” explains Von Lewinski.

“I enjoy teaching at Pierce Law because of the diversity of backgrounds of students from all over the world, who may often themselves contribute valuable experiences from their home countries, especially if they have already worked for some time,” says Von Lewinski.

“I want to pass on to my students the special experiences I had in European and international law-making when I was working as an expert, consulting the European Commission on drafting a harmonization directive and steering it through the legislative process. I encourage my students to engage in critical analysis and independent thinking, to get to know and respect the diversity of national approaches to similar problemsthrough comparative law, and to understand the rationale of copyright and related rights protection and the values involved.”

Von Lewinski has served for many years as adjunct professor at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany and the Polytechnical University, Zurich. Switzerland, and as a visiting professor at the University of Toulouse. She also served as a visiting professor at the Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada, the Universite de Nantes, France and the Gulf Institute for International Law in Dubai, and more recently at the Universities of Paris, at Sceaux and Sorbonne. In the spring of 2002, she was invited to teach at Melbourne University in Australia.

Fluent in three languages (researching in ten) Von Lewinski’s intellectual property expertise is sought worldwide. In 1996 she was a delegate for the EC at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Diplomatic Conference, resulting in the WIPO Internet Treaties, and in 2000, she was one of Germany’s delegates to WIPO’s Conference on Audiovisual Performances. Since 1995, Von Lewinski has served as a chief legal expert, consulting for the governments of several Eastern and Central European countries, including the former Soviet Union, regarding copyright legislation.

Von Lewinski has written more than 120 articles and book contributions on international and European copyright law and new technologies, and co-authored four books on similar topics.

Von Lewinski earned her law degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, and Doctor Juris/Ph.D. degree at the Free University in Berlin where she was the first recipient of the Heinrich-Hubman Award for “the best treaties in copyright” in 1991.

In addition to her academic achievements, Von Lewinski is an accomplished concert violinist. She began playing the violin at the age of five and later received several music awards in youth competitions in Germany. Von Lewinski has performed as member of various orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout Germany, and in 2002 made her U.S. debut in Concord.

“It has been my passion for music that has lead me to the area of copyright law. Music allows me to realize a quite different, though also demanding focus, combining the envisaged technical perfection with expression and imagination.”

Von Lewinski is a member of the executive committee of the Association Litteraire et Artistique Internationale, and serves on the editorial boards of Les Cahiers de la Propriete Intellectuelle. Canada and the Lagos State University Law Journal, Lagos, Nigeria.

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