Professor Brad Sherman
UQ Laureate Fellow
TC Beirne School of Law
Affiliate of ARC COE for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture
ARC COE for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture
+61 7 336 53319
Researcher biography
Brad Sherman is a UQ Laureate Fellow at The University of Queensland. Professor Sherman's previous academic positions include posts at Griffith University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the intersection of intellectual property and science and technology studies, as well as the impact of intellectual property on food and agriculture. He is currently working on the role intellectual property played in the formation of the Californian citrus industry in the early twentieth century.
Publications
Books
Sherman, Brad (2024). Intangible intangibles: patent law's engagement with dematerialised subject matter. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009479639
Bently, Lionel, Sherman, Brad, Ganjee, Dev and Johnson, Phillip (2022). Intellectual Property Law. 6th ed. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Bently, Lionel, Sherman, Brad, Gangjee, Dev and Johnson, Phillip (2018). Intellectual property law. 5th ed. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Bently, Lionel and Sherman, Brad (2014). Intellectual property law. 4th ed. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Sherman, Brad and Wiseman, L. (2012). Copyright and the Challenge of the New. United Kingdom: Kluwer Law International.
Pottage, Alain and Sherman, Brad (2010). Figures of invention : a history of modern patent law. 1st ed. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Bently, Lionel and Sherman, Brad (2008). Intellectual property law. 3rd ed. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.
Sherman, Brad and Bently, Lionel (2006). The making of intellectual property: The British experience. 2nd ed. Peking, China: Peking University Press.
Sherman, Bradley and Bently, Lionel (2004). Право интеллектуальной собственности: Авторское право. St Peterburg, Russia: Yurideichesky Center Press.
Bently, L. and Sherman, B. (2004). Intellectual property law. 2nd ed. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press.
Brad Sherman and L Bently (2004). Copyright. 1st ed. St Petersburg: Yurideichesky Centre Press.
Brad Sherman (2003). The Making of Modern Intellectual Property Law (Arabic Translation). 1st ed. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Sherman, B and Bently, L. (1999). The making of modern intellectual property law. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Brad Sherman and L Bently (1999). Intellectual Property Law. 1st ed. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.
Brad Sherman and L Bently and J Thomas (1997). International Intellectual Property Law and Multimedia. 1st ed. Brisbane: QANTM Multimedia Australia.
Brad Sherman and L Bently (1996). Performers Rights: Options for Reform. 1st ed. Canberra: Canberra: Dept. Communication & Arts.
Book Chapters
Bently, Lionel and Sherman, Brad (2025). The rise and fall of the United Kingdom’s forgotten utility model : the Utility Designs Act 1843*. Sub-patent Innovation Rights. (pp. 31-85) edited by Jorge L. Contreras. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009478113.006
Bently, Lionel and Sherman, Brad (2025). The Rise and Fall of the United Kingdom's Forgotten Utility Model. Sub-Patent Innovation Rights: Utility Models, Petty Patents and Innovation Patents Around the World. (pp. 31-85) edited by Jorge L. Contreras. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Bellido, Jose and Sherman, Brad (2023). Artificial flowers: Plastic nature, synthetic biology. Intellectual Property and the Design of Nature. (pp. 236-259) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780192864406.003.0009
Bellido, Jose and Sherman, Brad (2023). The place of nature in intellectual property. Intellectual property and the design of nature. (pp. 1-22) edited by Jose Bellido and Brad Sherman. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Bellido , Jose and Sherman, Brad (2023). Artificial flowers: plastic nature, synthetic biology. Intellectual property and the design of nature. (pp. 159-189) edited by Jose Bellido and Brad Sherman. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780192864406.001.0001
Sherman, Brad (2023). AI machines as inventors: the role of human agency in patent law. Improving intellectual property: a global project. (pp. 214-223) edited by Susy Frankel, Margaret Chon, Graeme B. Dinwoodie, Barbara Lauriat and Jens Schovsbo. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Fish, Allison and Sherman, Brad (2022). Using ‘Technology to Fill the Gaps in the Law': The Use of Machine Learning to Monitor Bioprospecting and Biopiracy in India. The Philosophy and Law of Information Regulation in India. (pp. 1-11) edited by Divij Joshi and Sudhir Krishnaswamy. Bangalore, India: Centre for Law and Policy Research. doi: 10.54999/2c0l1p0r
Sherman, Brad (2022). Which Nagoya protocol?: User-driven solutions to the legal uncertainty created by Nagoya. Access and benefit sharing of genetic resources, information and traditional knowledge. (pp. 249-258) Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003301998-20
Sherman, Brad (2020). Foreword. Intellectual property law and plant protection challenges and developments in Asia. (pp. xvii-xviii) edited by Kamalesh Adhikari and David J. Jefferson. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Sherman, Brad (2019). Climbing rose. A history of intellectual property in 50 objects. (pp. 184-191) edited by Claudy Op den Kamp and Dan Hunter. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781108325806.023
Sherman, Brad (2017). Intellectual property, biodiversity and food security. Routledge handbook of biodiversity and the law. (pp. 326-336) edited by Charles R. McManis and Burton Ong. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315530857-21
Sherman, Brad (2017). Slee and Harris’s Application (1966). Landmarks in intellectual property law. (pp. 231-252) edited by Jose Bellido. Oxford, United Kingdom: Hart Publishing. doi: 10.5040/9781509904693.ch-009
Sherman, Brad (2017). Slee & Harris’s Application (1966). Landmark cases in intellectual property law. (pp. 231-251) edited by Jose Bellido. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Sherman, Brad and Wiseman, Leanne (2016). From Terroir to Pangkarra: geographical indications of origin and traditional knowledge. Research handbook on intellectual property and geographical indications. (pp. 484-507) edited by Dev S. Ganjee. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781784719470.00029
Sherman, Brad and Bently, Lionel (2015). Limiting Patents. Compulsory Licensing: Practical Experiences and Ways Forward. (pp. 313-331) edited by Reto M. Hilty and Kung-Chung Liu. Berlin: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-54704-1_16
Wiseman, Leanne and Sherman, Brad (2014). Facilitating access to information: understanding the role of technology in copyright law. The evolution and equilibrium of copyright in the digital age. (pp. 221-240) edited by Susy Frankel and Daniel Gervais. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Sherman, Brad (2013). 'Towards a History of Patent Law'. Intellectual Property in Common Law and Civil Law. (pp. 3-18) edited by Toshiko Takenaka. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar.
Sherman, Brad and Pottage, Alain (2013). On the Prehistory of Intellectual Property. Concepts of Property in Intellectual Property Law. (pp. 11-28) edited by Helena R Howe and Jonathan Griffiths. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Sherman, Brad (2013). Reconceptualising Intellectual Property to Promote Food Security. The Intellectual Property and Food Project: From Rewarding Innovation and Creation to Feeding the World. (pp. 23-38) edited by Jay Sanderson and Charles Lawson. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
Sherman, Brad (2012). Copyright: when old technologies were new. Copyright and the Challenge of the New. (pp. 1-9) edited by Brad Sherman and Leanne Wiseman. Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands: Kluwer Law International.
Sherman, Brad (2012). Public ownership of private spectacles: copyright and television. Copyright and the Challenge of the New. (pp. 221-249) edited by Brad Sherman and Leanne Wiseman. Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands: Kluwer Law International.
Pottage, Alain and Sherman, Bradley G. (2011). Kinds, clones, and manufactures. Making and unmaking intellectual property: creative production in legal and cultural perspective. (pp. 269-283) edited by Mario Biagioli, Peter Jaszi and Martha Woodmansee. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hubicki, Stephen and Sherman, Brad (2009). We have never been modern: The High Court's decision in National Research Development Corporation v Commissioner of Patents. Landmarks in Australian Intellectual Property Law. (pp. 73-96) edited by Andrew T. Kenyon, Megan Richardson and Sam Ricketson. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Sherman, Bradley G. (2009). Kinds, clones and manufactures. Con/Texts of Invention. (pp. x-x) edited by Woodmansee, Biagioli and Jaszi. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bently, Lionel, Sherman, Brad and Hubicki, Stephen (2009). Patent Issues in Biotechnology. Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. (pp. 1-5) Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0005189.pub2
Brad Sherman (2009). Plant Intellectual Property. Dictionary of Intellectual Property Terms. (pp. 1-1) United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Sherman, B G and Wiseman, (2006). Towards an Indigenous Public Domain?. The Future of the Public Domain. (pp. 259-279) edited by Lucie Guibault and P. Bernt Hugenholtz. The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International.
Hubicki, S. and Sherman, B. G. (2005). Terminator Genes as Technical Protection Measures for Patents?. New Frontiers of Intellectual Property Law. (pp. 267-291) edited by Christopher Heath and Anselm Kamperman Sanders. Oregon, USA: Hart Publishing.
Sherman, B. (2003). Copyright Law in Australia. International Copyright Law and Practice. (pp. xx-xx) edited by Paul Geller. New York: Bender.
Sherman, B. (2003). Biological inventions and the problem of passive infringement. Industrial property in the bio-medical age. (pp. 105-115) edited by C. Heath and A. Kamperman Sanders. The Hague, Netherlands: Kluwer.
Sherman, B. (2002). Appropriating the Postmodern. Dear Images: Art, Copyright and Culture. (pp. xx-xx) edited by Daniel McClean and Karsten Schubert. London: Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Sherman, B. and Bently, L. (2002). Patents and the Human Genome. Encyclopedia of the human genome. (pp. xx-xx) edited by Paul Geller. New York: MacMillan.
Brad Sherman (2001). Digital Property and the Digital Commons. Intellectual Property in the Digital Age. (pp. 1-1) edited by C Heath and A Kamperman Sanders. Netherlands: Kluwer.
Brad Sherman and L Bently (1998). The Question of Patenting Life. Intellectual Property and Ethics. (pp. 1-1) London: Sweey & Maxwell.
Brad Sherman and L Bently (1997). Copyright Aspects of Art Loans. Art Loans. (pp. 1-1) London: Kluwer.
Brad Sherman (1997). Remembering and Forgetting - the birth of modern copyright law. Comparing Legal Cultures. (pp. 1-1) London: Dartmouth.
Brad Sherman and L Bently (1997). Balance and Harmony in the Duration of Copyright. Textual Monopolles Literary and the Public Domain. (pp. 1-1) London: P Parrinder.
Brad Sherman and A Pottage (1997). Creation et Appropriation. Profils de la creation. (pp. 1-1) Brussels: Facultes universitaires Saint-Louis.
Brad Sherman and L Bently (1997). The Novelty of Patenting Life. Property Rights in the Human Body. (pp. 1-1) London: Kings College.
Journal Articles
Sherman, Brad (2025). Law in non-places. The Modern Law Review.
Balaji, Sruthi, Fish, Allison and Sherman, Brad (2024). Disclosure of country of origin in patent applications might not help to protect genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Nature Plants, 11 (1), 4-5. doi: 10.1038/s41477-024-01880-z
Adhikari, Kamalesh, Sherman, Brad, Marrie, Henrietta, Sultanbawa, Yasmina and Chen, Gengning (2024). Indigenous peoples’ rights should be recognized and strengthened to boost food innovation research. Nature Food, 5 (10), 802-804. doi: 10.1038/s43016-024-01051-5
Sherman, Brad (2023). The Spectre of the Machine: Finding Space for Empirical Inventions in Patent Law. Pólemos, 17 (2), 217-231. doi: 10.1515/pol-2023-2018
Sherman, Brad and Henry, Robert J. (2021). Access to biodiversity for food production: reconciling open assess digital sequence information with access and benefit sharing. Molecular Plant, 14 (5), 701-704. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2021.03.005
McCouch, Susan, Navabi, Zahra Katy, Abberton, Michael, Anglin, Noelle L., Barbieri, Rosa Lia, Baum, Michael, Bett, Kirstin, Booker, Helen, Brown, Gerald L., Bryan, Glenn J., Cattivelli, Luigi, Charest, David, Eversole, Kellye, Freitas, Marcelo, Ghamkhar, Kioumars, Grattipaglia, Dario, Henry, Robert, Valadares Inglis, Maria Cleria, Islam, Tofazzal, Kehel, Zakaria, Kersey, Paul J., King, Graham J., Kresovich, Stephen, Marden, Emily, Mayes, Sean, Ndjiondjiop, Marie Noelle, Nguyen, Henry T., Paiva, Samuel Rezende, Papa, Roberto ... Rieseberg, Loren H. (2020). Mobilizing crop biodiversity. Molecular Plant, 13 (10), 1341-1344. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2020.08.011
Sherman, Brad and Henry, Robert James (2020). The Nagoya Protocol and historical collections of plants. Nature Plants, 6 (5), 430-432. doi: 10.1038/s41477-020-0657-8
Chapman, Susannah and Sherman, Brad (2018). Finding a place for agriculture in intellectual property law. IIC International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, 49 (7), 759-762. doi: 10.1007/s40319-018-0753-8
Sherman, Brad (2018). Intangible machines: patent protection for software in the United States. History of Science, 57 (1), 73275318770781-37. doi: 10.1177/0073275318770781
Sherman, Brad (2015). What does it mean to invent nature?. UC Irvine Law Review, 5 (5), 1193-1230.
Brad Sherman (2015). Before the high court: D'Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc: patenting genes in Australia. The Sydney Law Review, 37 (1), 135-146.
Sherman, Brad (2011). What is a copyright work?. Theoretical Inquiries in Law, 12 (1), 5.99-5.121. doi: 10.2202/1565-3404.1264
Sherman, Brad and Wiseman, Leanne (2010). Fair copy: Protecting access to scientific information in post-war Britain. The Modern Law Review, 73 (2), 240-261. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2230.2010.00792.x
Sherman, Bradley G. (2009). Developments in Copyright: The Last 40 Years. Copyright Reporter, 27 (4), 122-128.
Sherman, Brad (2008). Taxonomic property. Cambridge Law Journal, 67 (3), 560-584. doi: 10.1017/S0008197308000676
Sherman, Bradley G. (2008). Copyright Protection for Indigenous Creations: Issues for the Future. Intellectual Property Law and Policy Journal, 19 (Special Feature), 191-220.
Sherman, B. G. and Pottage, A. (2007). Organisms and manufactures: On the history of plant inventions. Melbourne University Law Review, 31 (2), 539-568.
Hubicki, Stephen and Sherman, Brad (2007). Intellectual Property and Agricultural Biotechnology in Australia. The Journal of Biolaw and Business, 10, 48-51.
Sherman, B G and Bently, Lionel (2006). The Impact of European Geographical Indication on National Rights in Member States. The Trademark Reporter, 96 (4), 850-906.
Sherman, Brad (2005). Regulating access and use of genetic resources: Intellectual property law and biodiscovery. Intellectual Property Law and Policy Journal, 8 (August), 37-57.
Hubicki, Stephen and Sherman, Brad (2005). The killing fields: Intellectual property and genetic use restriction technologies. Intellectual Property Law and Policy Journal, 6 (3), 1-31.
Hubicki, S. and Sherman, B. G. (2005). The Killing Fields: Intellectual Property and Genetic Use Restriction Technologies. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 28 (3), 740-757.
Sherman, Brad (2003). Regulating access and use of genetic resources: Intellectual property law and biodiscovery. European Intellectual Property Review, 25 (7), 301-308.
Sherman, Brad (2002). Biological Inventions and the Problem of Passive Infringement. Australian Intellectual Property Journal, 146
Sherman, Brad and Bentley, L . (2001). Great Britain and the Singing of the Berne Convention in 1886. Journal of the Copyright Society of USA, 48
Sherman, Brad and Goldsmith, B. (2001). Intellectual Property and Indigenous Culture. Griffith Law Review, 201
Brad Sherman and J Thomas (1999). Defining the Public Domain. Journal of Law and Information Science, 9
Brad Sherman and L Bentley (1997). The UK's Forgotten Utility Model. Intellectual Property Quarterley
Brad Sherman (1996). Remembering and Forgetting: The birth of modern copyright law. Intellectual Property Journal, 10
Conference Papers
Sherman, Brad (2015). Textual Machines: The Material Concerns of Intellectual Property in Software. Society for the Study of Science Conference, Denver, CO, United States, 12 Nov 2015.
Sherman, Bradley G. (2014). Sharing Data Subject to Additional Legal & Ethical Considerations. Data Rights & Data Wrongs Conference, Innovating Communication in Scholarship, Davis, CA, United States, 10 Dec 2014.
Sherman, Bradley G. (2014). Traditional Knowledge and Geographical Indications of Origin. Innovating Communication in Scholarship Speaker Series, University of California, Davis, USA, 10 September 2014.
Sherman, Bradley G. (2014). What does it mean to invent nature?. The Meaning of Myriad Conference, Irvine, CA, United States, 12 Sept 2014.
Sherman, Bradley G. (2013). Exclusions from Patentability and Exceptions to Patentees’ Rights. The Fifth Conference on European and Asian Intellectual Property Rights: Compulsory Licensing, Taipei, Taiwan, December 2013.
Sherman, Bradley G. (2012). Public Ownership of Private Spectacles: Copyright and Television. 2012 International Conference on Law and Society, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 2012.
Sherman, Brad (2011). Plant Breeder’s Rights & Intellectual Property Issues. Australia Flower Conference 2011, Brisbane, Australia, July 2011.
Sherman, Bradley G. (2011). Creativity, Copying and the Problem of the Intangible. The University of Queensland School of Architecture Seminar Series, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, May 2011.
Sherman, Bradley G. (2011). The Patenting of University-Based Research in Australia. Bayh-Dole @30: Mapping the Future of University Patenting, Davis, CA, United States, April 2011.
Sherman, Bradley G. (2011). Bio-Legal Hybrids: understanding biological inventions. Workshop Discussion Series: Technological Cultures: Themes and Methods in the History of Technology, Berlin, Germany, February 2011.
Working Papers
Sherman, Brad, Adhikari, Kamalesh and Balaji, Sruthi (2025). The impact of access and benefit-sharing measures on use and exchange of genetic resources for food and agriculture and associated traditional knowledge: draft report . Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, United Nations.
Adhikari, Kamalesh, Sherman, Brad and Jefferson, David James (2020). Collecting Australian native plant materials from the Wild: Guidelines on key legal issues. The ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Uniquely Australian Foods.
Sherman, Brad, Adhikari,Kamalesh and Jefferson, David (2020). Collecting Australian native plant materials from intermediaries: Guidelines on key legal issues. The ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Uniquely Australian Foods, The University of Queensland.
Research Reports
MacDonald, Hamish and Sherman, Brad (2022). Information Notice Systems and the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 (Cth). Plant Breeder's Rights - University of Queensland independent research reports Labrador, QLD, Australia: Black Jettie.
MacDonald, Hamish and Sherman, Brad (2022). Labelling Requirements and the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 (Cth). Plant Breeder's Rights - University of Queensland independent research reports Labrador, QLD, Australia: Black Jettie.
MacDonald, Hamish and Sherman, Brad (2022). Essentially derived varieties and the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 (Cth). Plant Breeder's Rights - University of Queensland independent research reports Labrador, QLD, Australia: Black Jettie.
Adhikari, Kamalesh, Bosse, Jocelyn, Fish, Allison and Sherman, Brad (2018). Intellectual property and related legal issues facing the Australian Native Food Industry. AgriFutures Australia Publication Wagga Wagga NSW Australia: AgriFutures Australia.