Mohammad Ataul Karim

Mohammad Ataul Karim is a DPhil student in Law at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on incentives paradox in innovation law.

Ataul has served in various academic and research positions. He worked as a Consultant at the Academic Institutions and Executive Program of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, Switzerland. He specifically assisted in IP Teaching in Asia and the Pacific Region and supported WIPO Joint Masters’ Programs in the region. During his tenure, he was a member of the organising team of the WIPO-WTO Colloquium for IP Teachers and also served as a member of the working committee for WIPO-IP International Moot Competitions for Universities.

Ataul served as an Academic Tutor of LLM in IP and Competition Law at Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (an international LLM jointly offered by the Max Planck Institute of Innovation and Competition, Munich Technical University, Augsburg University, and George Washington University, USA). He tutored Basic Modules: US and European Copyright Law, US and European Patents Law, US and European Trademarks and Designs Law, Cross-Cutting Issues of IP which includes IP and Conflict of laws, International IP, US and EU Competition law, European Union Law, and Elective Modules: Trade Secret Law and International Geographical Indications Law.

Ataul worked as an IPR Researcher at the IPR and Academic Policy Division of Ericsson, Munich, Germany, where he particularly researched on the value of SEP-protected connectivity standards, FRAND royalty, and licensing level in the automotive sector from the IP, innovation policy, and competition law angles.

Prior to his international engagements, Ataul taught law in Bangladesh. He holds an LLB (Honours) and LLM degree from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. He obtained an LLM in Intellectual Property Law (specialized in Patents and Designs Law) in 2018-19 from the WIPO Academy and Faculty of Law, Ankara University. Later, he also pursued an LLM in IP and Competition Law from MIPLC-Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich, Germany where he was a DAAD Scholar (The German Academic Exchange Service) and GRUR Scholar (the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property) for the class of 2020-21. 

He has published in well-reputed intellectual property journals on Plant Variety Protection and Farmers' Rights, Geographical Indications of Bangladesh and the TRIPS, Protection of Geographical Indications for Handicrafts, and Bangladesh-India Geographical Indications Issue, the list of his publication can be found in google scholar.     

Ataul was awarded University Grants Commission (UGC) Bangladesh Gold Medal, 2016 by the Honourable President of Bangladesh for his research publication in law.

Ataul remains committed to contribute to the people and society from which he has received endless supports. He is happy to provide mentorship to the students, particularly those are from humble backgrounds, less-represented, and aspire to be change-makers.