Prof. Soumya Singh Chauhan

Prof. Soumya has earned her Masters in Law in Intellectual Property and Policy Law from University of Washington School of Law, Seattle. During her Masters, she was a founding member of the South Asian Law Students Association [now Middle Eastern and South Asian Law Students Association] and a member of the Seattle IP Inn of Court.

Soumya has extensive experience in Trademark Prosecution and Transactional work. In Seattle, she worked on an Appellate Tribunal matter in favour of the Trademark acceptance of a Cannabis brand in Washington State. Prior to joining OPJGU, she worked in IP Prosecution and Transactional work at Ascentialls Law Firm in New Delhi, where she had previously worked throughout her undergrad period as well.

Her work at American Civil Liberties Union of Washington ignited her current research interest in the intersection of Technology and Law. She worked with the Technology and Liberty Project at ACLU, and had the opportunity to work on bills relating to surveillance, studying artefacts that could be repurposed for surveillance, and working with the city council for the amendments to various draft bills relating to data collection technology.

Soumya also had the privilege of working in areas intersecting art and law, since she is an art enthusiast and also enjoys creating artworks herself. She worked at Seattle Art Museum where she was engaged in the IP Portfolio management of SAM and its sister Museums: Seattle Asian Art Museum, and Olympic Sculpture Park; and dealt with IP applications, transactions, and other internal and external compliance matters for the Museum. She also worked with Tasveer, a non profit south Asian film organisation that organises the longest South Asian Film Festival in the USA. Soumya worked as their Legal Coordinator for the Film Festival, drafting over 60 screening agreements and using her IP background to ensure compliance in social media promotions of events using copyrighted works and trademarks, stepping into the role of the Social Media Manager/Coordinator for the Festival as well.

During this time of working in the Arts District in Technology, Art and Law, Soumya was also part of two campaign teams of city council election candidates.

Soumya’s current research interests lie in these intersections as well, of technology and law, and art and law, involving the study of IP, Law of Crimes, and Constitutional Law.

Apart from her work in academia, Soumya is an artist and is building an expanding portfolio of custom digital art as well as her own pieces in various media. She also enjoys writing poetry and was an active participant of poetry circles and performance events during her stint at University of Washington. She is currently working on a collection of illustrated poetry. Her works can be found at soumyasc.com.