Jacques de Werra is Professor of Contract Law and Intellectual Property Law at the Law School of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He authored a doctoral thesis in Switzerland on comparative copyright law which he completed as a visiting scholar at the Max-Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law in Munich in 1996.
He then practiced law in Switzerland before obtaining an LL.M. degree from Columbia Law School in New York City in 2001 and being admitted to the New York bar in 2002. Jacques researches, publishes on and discusses topics related to various aspects of intellectual property law and contract law − including particularly the commercialization of intellectual property assets through transfer of technology, licensing and franchizing − as well as IT and Internet law and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms for IP and technology disputes. He has been involved in commercial arbitration, and works closely together with the WIPO, including as coordinator of the WIPO – University of Geneva Summer School on Intellectual Property. Currently his research focuses on intellectual property contracts and especially licensing contracts from a comparative and policy perspective.