Abbe Brown has been a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh since 2006 and is an Associate of the AHRC/SCRIPT research centre.   Previously, Abbe spent almost 10 years in practice in London, Melbourne and Edinburgh.

Abbe has expertise in all aspects of information technology and intellectual property, with particular interest in the interaction between IT, IP and other legal fields and modes of regulation, in meeting the theoretical and practical challenges of evolving technologies. 

Abbe's doctoral research "A legal solution to a real problem: the interface between intellectual property, competition and human rights" was completed in 2008. The project was supported by the Modern Law Review and the Clark Foundation for Legal Education, and formed part of a broader project of Phase 1 of the AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law, investigating IP, competition and human rights. Details of earlier work on this project and publications can be found via http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/documents/ and the project blog at http://ipedinburgh.blogspot.com/.  Abbe's particular area of focus is the role of human rights and competition in informing and empowering national courts, and the WTO dispute settlement system, in adopting a creative, less property based approach to IP legislation in appropriate cases, using communications technology as an example.  She is continuing her work in this area and held a workshop at the Internet Governance Forum in Egypt in November 2009 - for podcast see http://www.un.org/webcast/igf/ondemand.asp?mediaID=ws091118-nilevalley-am1 .  She is also exploring the possible contribution of her work in access to climate change technologies.    

Abbe co-ordinates the Information Technology Think Tank under the auspices of the ARHC/SCRIPT centre. In 2009, she coached the two University of Edinburgh teams for the Oxford Intellectual Property Moot - both these teams performed well and one teached the final.  Abbe also maintains a strong interest in public engagement: she was a member of the University of Edinburgh Creative Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Steering Group, in 2008 she organised and co-chaired "Questions of Sport.  What are the Legal Rights and Wrongs" at Murrayfield International Stadium and in 2009 she gave "World IP Day" presentations to primary school classes.

For 2008-9, Abbe has been awarded the Christie Law Research Fellowship.  She is Supervisory Editor (Information Technology) of SCRIPT-ed, A Journal of Law and Technology.  She is a member of the Scottish Committee of the Licensing Executives Society and the Technology Committee of the Law Society of Scotland, and is a member of the Society of Computers & Law, ILA, SLS, SLSA, Competition Law Scholars Forum, the Scottish Competition Law Forum and the Association for the Study of
Sport and the European Union. She was a Research Associate for the RSA Adelphi Charter in 2005 .        

Abbe should be delighted to hear from potential PhD candidates interested in exploring any aspect of the legal challenges of information technology and intellectual property.