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UCL Laws PhD candidate Luminiţa Olteanu awarded the IBIL IP Research Scholarship for 2018
10 October 2018
The scholarship will help fund Lumi's research in the field of intellectual property.
The Institute of Brand and Innovation Law (IBIL) at the UCL Faculty of Laws is delighted to welcome new PhD candidate, Luminiţa Olteanu, to the UCL Laws PhD programme. Lumi is the recipient of the IBIL Research Scholarship for 2018. This scholarship is open to all UCL PhD applicants in the field of Intellectual Property Law and is awarded on the basis of academic merit. It covers all university fees and provides an annual stipend for a period of three years.
Lumi's research project is concerned with the 'anti-dilution' protection which is afforded to registered trade marks with 'reputation'. It seeks to explain why and to what extent this controversial form of protection is justified, as well as evaluating how closely the reputation test established by the CJEU mirrors the way in which reputation is typically measured by brand holders in the online environment. It is hoped that by testing the assumptions of the law against the realities of digital advertising techniques, the study will reveal whether new criteria for gauging reputation are warranted.
Lumi’s research project will be completed under the supervision of UCL Laws’ Dr Ilanah Simon Fhima (Reader in Intellectual Property Law) and Dr Matt Fisher (Senior Lecturer).
Commenting on her award, Lumi said:
"The IBIL award has provided me with the opportunity to shift my career path from practising as an IP lawyer to researching IP law under the supervision of leading experts in the field. The research that I plan to undertake using this funding explores one of the most topical challenges facing IP law. Overall, by clarifying the criteria relevant to trade mark reputation, the study should benefit all stakeholders involved in the in the process of creating or protecting the reputation attached to trade marks."
Before joining UCL, Lumi studied at the University of Kent and received the Oxford University Press Prize for Academic Excellence in the LLM. Prior to that, she practiced as a commercial dispute resolution lawyer at an international law firm based in Bucharest.