Prof. Dr. Tim W. Dornis, J.S.M. (Stanford)

Tim W. Dornis holds the Chair of Private Law and Intellectual Property Law. His research covers doctrinal, comparative, and interdisciplinary questions of private law, intellectual property, and competition law with a special focus on the regulation of artificial intelligence.

He studied law and economics in Germany (Tübingen, Dr. iur. 2004) and in the United States at Columbia University (LL.M. 2003, James Kent Scholar) and at Stanford Law School (J.S.M. 2009, SPILS Fellow). In 2011, he also was a Hauser Global Fellow at New York University School of Law. Before becoming a law professor in 2012, Professor Dornis spent several years practicing in an international law firm and as a tenured judge in Germany. His post-doctoral habilitation thesis (University of Zurich, Switzerland) has been published by Cambridge University Press under the title Trademark and Unfair Competition Conflicts: Historical-Comparative, Doctrinal, and Economic Perspectives as part of the publisher’s Intellectual Property and Information Law Series. (Download (open access) from Cambridge University Press.)

Since 2015, Tim Dornis has been a visiting professor at the Università di Verona. In 2018, he has been appointed Global Professor of Law at the NYU Law in Paris program. Since 2021, he also is a honorary professor at University of Zurich. Professor Dornis is admitted to practice law in New York (USA) and is a member of the German-American Lawyers’ Association, the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (GRUR), and the Association for Comparative Law (Gesellschaft für Rechtsvergleichung e.V.).

August 2022 - Februar 2023: Stanford University, School of Law, Stanford/USA, TTLF Research Fellow (in residence)

June 2021 – August 2022: Fellow (non-resident) of the Stanford Transatlantic Technology Law Forum, Stanford Law School, Stanford/USA

since October 2021: Professor of Law at Leibniz University, Chair of Private Law and Intellectual Property Law, Hannover/Germany

August 2021: University of Zurich, Rechtswissenschaftliche Fakultät/Law School, Zurich/Switzerland, appointment as a Honorary Professor

May 2018: Scholar-in-residence at NYU School of Law's Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration and Commercial Law, New York/USA

since Spring 2018: NYU School of Law (New York), Global Professor of Law at the "NYU Law in Paris" program

since May 2016: Visiting Professor at the Università di Verona (Dipartimento di Scienze Giuridiche), Verona/Italy

December 2015: Call (offer of a tenured position) for post as a Professor of Law (chair of Private Law, European and International Commercial Law), University of Leipzig (Juristenfakultät)

May 2014: Habilitation at the University of Zurich Law School, Zurich/Switzerland; Venia legendi awarded for private law, international private law, comparative law, trade law, economic law, and intellectual property law

August 2011 until December 2011: Global Fellow from Practice & Government at the Hauser Global Law School Program of NYU School of Law, New York/USA; faculty sponsor: Barton Beebe

August 2011 – October 2021: Professor of Law at Leuphana Law School, Lüneburg/Germany

August 2008 until July 2009: SPILS Fellow at Stanford Law School, Stanford/USA, J.S.M. (honors in all lecture classes); research scholarship awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Stanford SPILS Program; faculty supervisor: Mark A. Lemley

July 2006 until July 2011: Judge and public prosecutor (IP, banking, and insurance law) at the District Court of Stuttgart/Germany, and in the Department of Justice

July 2004 until June 2006: Attorney-at-law in the IP and litigation department, Gleiss Lutz Lawyers, Stuttgart/Germany

November 2004: Ph.D. awarded, University of Tübingen/Germany; topic: Kaufpreiszahlung auf Notaranderkonto; supervisor: Wolfgang Ernst (highest distinction: summa cum laude)

August 2003 until June 2004: senior research associate, University of Augsburg/Germany

August 2002 until July 2003: Columbia University, New York/USA, LL.M. (highest distinction: James Kent Scholar, top 1-3%); bar exam (attorney-at-law), New York/USA

October 2001 until July 2002: research associate, University of Tübingen

October 2001:Second state exam (bar equivalent) at the Circuit Court (OLG) of Stuttgart/Germany (result: top 1% state wide)

October 1999 until October 2001: practical training (Referendariat) at the District Court of Tübingen/Germany; stages inter alia with Clayton Utz Lawyers, Sydney/Australia

April 1995 until June 1999: Studies of law and economics; First State Exam (J.D. equivalent), University of Tübingen (result: top 1% state wide)

Professor Dornis‘ research focus is on intellectual property law, international and European private law as well as comparative law and law & economics. Particular attention is paid to the regulation of AI.

Among his key publications are:

• Trademark and Unfair Competition Conflicts: Historical-Comparative, Doctrinal, and Economic Perspectives, Cambridge Intellectual Property and Information Law Series, Bently & Cornish eds., Cambridge University Press 2017 (696 pages), open access on Cambridge CORE (post-doc habilitation thesis).
• Trademarks, Comparative Advertising, and Product Imitations: An Untold Story of Law and Economics, 121 Penn State Law Review (Penn State L. Rev.) 421-470 (2016) (co-authored with Thomas Wein).
• Behind the Steele Curtain – An Empirical Study of Trademark Conflicts Cases, 1952-2016, 20 Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law (Vand. J. Ent. & Tech. L.) 567-653 (2018).
• Wigmorian Copyright: Law, Economics, and Socio-Cultural Evolution, Intellectual Property Quarterly (IPQ) 2018, 159-180.
• Standard-Essential Patents and FRAND Licensing – At the Crossroads of Economic Theory and Legal Practice, Journal of European Competition Law & Practice (J. Eur. Comp. L. & Pract.) vol. 11 (2020), 575-591.
• Artificial Creativity: Emergent Works and the Void in Current IP Law, 22 Yale Journal of Law & Technology (Yale J. L. & Tech.) 2020, pp. 1-60.
• Artificial Intelligence and Innovation: The End of Patent Law As We Know It, 23 Yale Journal of Law & Technology (Yale J. L. & Tech.) 2020, pp. 97-159.
• Of “Authorless Works“ and “Inventions without Inventor” – The Muddy Waters of “AI Autonomy” in Intellectual Property Doctrine, European Intellectual Property Review (E.I.P.R.) 2021, 570-585.
• Künstliche Intelligenz und internationaler Vertragsschluss, Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht (RabelsZ) 2023, 306-325.
• Künstliche Intelligenz und Vertragsschluss, Archiv für die civilistische Praxis (AcP) 223 (2023), 717-746.