Prof. Joseph Straus currently holds professorships in law at the University of Munich (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) and the University of Ljubljana. He is also the former Director of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law in Munich. As a world-renowned expert in intellectual property, his main research areas include European and international patent law, the protection of biotechnological inventions, employee invention law, international protection of intellectual property and the international economic order, technology transfer, and intellectual property arbitration. He has published extensively and enjoys a high international reputation, having authored numerous articles and books, as well as over one hundred monographs and other contributions in journals and series.

Beyond his outstanding academic achievements, Professor Straus is a key figure capable of influencing policy negotiations at major international bodies such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD), the European Commission, and the World Bank. In 2005, he was named by the UK-based IP magazine Managing Intellectual Property as one of the "50 Most Influential People in the Global Intellectual Property Community". Currently, he serves as a senior advisor to various international organisations and institutions, including the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the World Bank. He is also Chairman of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) and Chairman of the Planning Committee of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI).