Recent Major PublicationsCentralizing Pharmaceutical Innovation (forthcoming, Maryland L. Rev. 2024)
Planning for Pandemic and Epidemic-Related Drug Scarcity, in Intellectual Property, COVID-19, and the Next Pandemic: Diagnosing Problems, Developing Cures (Sun & Sunder, eds) (forthcoming, Cambridge Univ. Press 2023) (with Ana Santos Rutschman) Contractual Solutions to Overcome Drug Scarcity During Pandemics and Epidemics, 40 Nature Biotech. 301-303 (March 2022) (with Ana Santos Rutschman) Compulsory Licensing of Patents During Pandemics, 54 Conn. L. Rev. 57 (2022) Judging Patents, 62 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 871 (2021) Patent Law's Balance of Power, 104 Iowa L. Rev. 2511 (2019) Innovation Nationalism, 51 Conn. L. Rev. 205 (2019) Other Recent Publications
Using Contracts to Lessen Inequities in Access to Medicines in Pandemics and Epidemics, Bill of Health (March 25, 2022) (with Ana Santos Rutschman)
Reducing Drug Scarcity During Pandemics and Epidemics Through Contracts, Nature Health Community (March 18, 2022) (with Ana Santos Rutschman) Promoting Public Health Through State Sovereign Immunity, 4 J. L. & Innov. 1 (2021) (invited) WTO Global Health: Shifting away from a Punishment Mindset, PatentlyO (May 9, 2021) Pandemic Drug Shortages: Is Compulsory Licensing the Answer?, PatentlyO (Jan. 28, 2021) Judge-Made Solutions to Patent Litigation, 18 Chi. Kent L. J. 508 (2019) (invited) Amicus Brief of the Houston Intellectual Property Law Association in Support of Neither Party, WesternGeco LLC v. Ion Geophysical Corp., 16-1011 (with Ifti Ahmed) (2018) Recent Invited Presentations
Centralizing Pharmaceutical Innovation, Cardozo Law School IP Colloquium Series (2023)
Access to Medicine During Pandemics: Is Compulsory Licensing of Patents the Answer?, Workshop, University of Tokyo Law School (2022) Centralizing Pharmaceutical Innovation, Center for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation, University of Copenhagen (2022) Access to Medicine During Pandemics: Is Compulsory Licensing the Answer? Institute for Information Law Lecture Series, University of Amsterdam (2022) Trial Court Specialization for Patent Cases, Estop and Stay Awhile: The Interaction of Administrative and Article III Courts in Intellectual Property, Texas Intell. Prop. L. Journal Symposium, University of Texas (2022). Panelist, Recent Trends in Granting Compulsory Licenses, 2021 International IP Court Conference of South Korea (2021) New Licensing Avenues to Promote Public Health (with Ana Santos Rutschman), Intellectual Property, COVID-19, and the Next Pandemic: Diagnosing Problems, Developing Cures, Hong Kong U. Law & Georgetown Law (2021) |
Classes Taught
Recent Honors
UHLC Order of Barons Professor of the Year (2022)
Fulbright-Schuman Innovation Grant Recipient (Spring 2019) University of Houston 50 in 5 Scholar (2018) German Academic Exchange Service Scholarship Recipient (2018) InterestsI enjoy traveling, running, and cooking. I am conversant in German.
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Henry J. Fletcher Professor of Law
University of Minnesota Law School
Professor Kumar is a patent law and international intellectual property scholar. Her most recent work has examined how patent rights work in times of crisis, focusing on public health emergencies. She has also written extensively about the intersection of patent law, federal courts, and administrative law, examining the role of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in harmonizing patent law among various agencies and district courts.
Professor Kumar is a 2018-2019 Fulbright-Schuman Innovation Grant recipient, which allowed her to research the use of technically-trained patent judges at the University of Strasbourg's Center for International Intellectual Property Studies in France and at the Max-Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Germany. She spent Fall 2022 as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Copenhagen's Center for Advanced Studies in Biomedical Innovation.
Prior to joining the Minnesota faculty, Professor Kumar held the John Mixon Chair at the University of Houston Law Center. She also co-directed the Institute for Intellectual Property and Information Law.
Professor Kumar received her J.D. at the University of Chicago, where she served as a staff member of the University of Chicago Law Review. She clerked for Judge Kenneth Ripple on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.