Dr Covarrubia is a Reader in Law at The University of Buckingham and an IP consultant at the Latin America IPR SME Helpdesk, co-funded by the EU Commission. She holds the title of Abogado from her native country Venezuela (Universidad Catolica), an LLM in European Law (University of Southampton) and a PhD (Brunel University London) in Intellectual Property.
Previously, she worked at the University of Brunel teaching Intellectual Property Law and European Law; at BPP, School of Law, London where she was EU leader tutor for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). She taught in Bucks New University and in Holborn College, North Greenwich where she ran Liverpool John Moores, Wales University and London University programmes.
Beyond academia, Dr. Covarrubia is a prolific contributor to the field of Intellectual Property. She manages and authors the IPTango blog, a renowned Intellectual Property weblog focused on Latin America. IPTango has been recognised as one of the “World’s Best IP Blogs” by BananaIP.com and one of the “Top 15 Blogs for Intellectual Property Enthusiasts” by Buzzfeed.
Her research interests span various critical areas: geographical indications and indications of origin, compulsory licences in the pharmaceutical industry, fashion, and the protection of traditional knowledge.
In 2018, Dr Covarrubia chaired the session ‘Tangible and Intangible’ at the Association of Critical Heritage Studies conference, in Hangzhou, China. The same year she was awarded a scholarship by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for IP training on IP asset management for business success at the Korean Institute of Intellectual Property (KIPO), Seoul. More recently, she obtained a research grant for the book Transboundary Heritage and Intellectual Property Law: Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (Routledge, 2023). She has published over 500 post in the IPTango blog, over a dozen of electronic material hosted by the EU at the Latin America IPR SME Helpdesk as well as hardcopy publications in top UK journals. She has been invited to participate in several Trade & Investment Roadshow and Expos. You can find her insightful interview on YouTube here. Her commitment to sharing knowledge continues through webinars, where she provides valuable guidance and advice as an Intellectual Property expert.
In addition to her expertise, Dr Covarrubia is actively researching on Special Learning Difficulties (SpLD). She strongly advocates for diversifying assessments in Higher Education. In 2021 and 2023, she has shared her empirical research at the European Intellectual Property Teachers Network drawing from her experiences in teaching and assessing students with SpLD.
Research, Publications and Conferences since 2017
Books
Patricia Covarrubia (ed), Diaspora, Transboundary Heritage and Intellectual Property Law: Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (Routledge, 2023)
Patricia Covarrubia, Chemical Sense Marks: Frequent concerns when applying for trade mark registration at the OHIM (Saarbrücken: VDM Publishing 2011)
Other publications
Beenish Chaudhary, Patricia Covarrubia and Gar Yein Ng, ‘The judge, the AI, and the Crown: a collusive network’ (2024) 33(3) Information & Communications Technology Law
Patricia Covarrubia, ‘The Disappearance of Traditions: The Use of Geographical Indications and Collective Marks to Prevent Loss of Culture in South America’ (2024) 55 International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (IIC) 1257
Ulrika Wennersten , Laurent Manderieux and Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Faschion and design law’ in Dana Beldiman (ed), Design Law: global law and practice (Edward Eldgar 2024)
Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Moving beyond theory: the relationship between local producers and GIs’ (2023) 18(8) Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice 615
Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Enredados – detangling definitions and strengthening views: A lexicon of relevant terms, institutions, and legislations’ in Patricia Covarrubia (ed), Diaspora, Transboundary Heritage and Intellectual Property Law: Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (Routledge 2023)
Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Knitting a future for the Aymara’s weavers: The Andean project’ in Patricia Covarrubia (ed), Diaspora, Transboundary Heritage and Intellectual Property Law: Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (Routledge 2023)
Patricia Covarrubia and Kerry Purcell, ‘Geographical Indications in South America: it’s not all about the label. Cultural Factors and Social Network Theories’ Worldwide Perspectives on Geographical Indications, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad), and Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Jul 2022, Montpellier, France at https://agritrop.cirad.fr/602156/1/ID602156.pdf
Latin America IPR SME Helpdesk (2020), ‘Managing your IP in the Medical Device Sector’ electronic material hosted by the EU at http://www.latinamerica-ipr-helpdesk.eu/library/factsheet/managing-your-ip-medical-device-sector
Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Coffee for Two’: the implication of bilateral trade agreements (Café Nariño vs. Oro Nariño) in ASIPI (eds) Libro comentado sobre decisiones entre Marcas vs. Indicaciones Geográficas (2019 ASIPI)
Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Geographical Indications of traditional handicrafts: a cultural element in a predominantly economic activity’ (2019) IIC – International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 50(4), 441-466
Latin America IPR SME Helpdesk (2018), ‘Beware of Brazilian legislation when negotiating your R&D agreement – case study’ electronic material hosted by the EU at http://www.latinamerica-ipr-helpdesk.eu/library/case-study/beware-brazilian-legislation-when-negotiating-your-rd-agreement
Patricia Covarrubia and Fernando Seixas, ‘Patentability of Polymorphs: the interpretation of novelty and inventive step in Brazil’ (2018) Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice (13) 10
Latin America IPR SME Helpdesk, ‘Design protection in Peru – the textile industry, case study’, electronic material hosted by the EU at http://www.latinamerica-ipr-helpdesk.eu, summer 2018
Latin America IPR SME Helpdesk, ‘IPRs in the Healthcare Sector in Latin America Factsheet’, electronic material hosted by the EU at http://www.latinamerica-ipr-helpdesk.eu/factsheet, summer 2018
Lisa Albanis and Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Cultural expressions: the intersection of culture and intellectual creations – Fado as a case study’, (2017) Intellectual Property Quarterly 1, 29-51
More than 500 publications in the IPTango blog – http://iptango.blogspot.co.uk/
Conferences, Seminars and Presentations
- Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Diversity on IP: Assessing Different Strengths’ 15th Anniversary EIPTN Conference 06- 07 October 2023, Denmark, Copenhagen
- Patricia Covarrubia and Kerry Purcell, ‘Geographical Indications in South America: it’s not all about the label. Cultural Factors and Social Network Theories’ Worldwide Perspectives on Geographical Indications, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad), and Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 5-8 Jul 2022, Montpellier, France
- Patricia Covarrubia and C Cerdan (moderators/chairs), ‘Link to origin: traditional know-how or innovation? Worldwide Perspectives on Geographical Indications, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad), and Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 5-8 Jul 2022, Montpellier, France
- Patricia Covarrubia, Dialogue: ‘Geographical Indications’ held in the framework of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Food System Summit 2021 (Roundtable – 100 participants, 10 per table)
- Patricia Covarrubia, ‘The IPTango Experience in IP Studying and Teaching’ European Intellectual Property Teachers’ Network (EIPTN) Madrid, Spain, October 2021
- Patricia Covarrubia, ‘The Future of Geographical Indications and Traceability in a Covid Transformed World’ on Global Digital Encounters (FIDE and TIPSA, Transatlantic IP Academy) 6th April 2021
- Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Compulsory patent licences: afraid or defying? – Brazil and the Andean countries practices’ on The Society of Legal Scholars, Preston, UK, September 2019.
- Patricia Covarrubia (chair), ‘Tangible and Intangible’ at the 2018 Association of Critical Heritage Studies conference, 1-6th September, 2018, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
- Patricia Covarrubia, ‘ICH safeguarding and IP protection: are they sufficient to knit a future for the Aymara’s weavers?’ on the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, September 2018
- Patricia Covarrubia, ‘Geographical Indications of traditional handicrafts: a cultural element in a predominantly economic activity’ on the European Policy on Intellectual Property, Bordeaux France, September 2017
Knowledge Transfer
Training
- Patricia Covarrubia, ‘IP Protection’, EUREKA Global Innovation Summit, Manchester, UK, 16, May 2019.
- Patricia Covarrubia, ‘The importance of managing IP for SMEs’, interview at the EUREKA Global Innovation Summit, Manchester, UK, 16, May 2019 (available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1icu7zZ6sg)
- Patricia Covarrubia, ‘The Importance of IP in Internationalization Strategies: The Case of Latin America’, Enterprise Europe Network and Portuguese Intellectual Property Office, Porto, Portugal, May 2017.
Webinar
- Covarrubia, Patricia, ‘Intellectual Property for SMEs – Protecting Your IP at Trade Fairs’, February 2020
- Covarrubia, Patricia, ‘Main Intellectual Property-related problems in the Latin-American market for EU SMEs’, March 2018
- Covarrubia, Patricia, ‘IP in Latin America’, December 2017
- Covarrubia, Patricia, ‘Protecting your brand abroad: Latin America’, July 2017