Miriam Marcowitz-Bitton is a Professor and the Raoul Wallenberg Chair in Human Rights at the Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law. She has been a visiting professor in the United States at The Ohio State University, the University of Miami in Florida, and DePaul University in Chicago.
Professor Marcowitz-Bitton has received numerous academic awards, including the Aharon Barak Prize for Senior Legal Scholars, the Israeli Society for Medicine and Law Prize for an Outstanding Article, the Meitar Prize for an Outstanding Article, the Amnon Goldenberg Prize for an Outstanding Article, the Zeltner Prize for Young Legal Scholars, and the Bar-Ilan University Rector’s Award for Scientific Innovation. Professor Marcowitz-Bitton’s many fellowships and grants include the Fulbright Award; a Fulbright Fellowship from the U.S. Department of State; a Marie Curie Grant from the European Commission; a grant from the Israel Science Foundation; the Alon Fellowship for Young Researchers; grants from both the Heth Center and the Horowitz Center of Tel Aviv University; and a grant from the Dangoor Center for Medicine and Law.
Professor Marcowitz-Bitton researches and teaches in the fields of intellectual property, law and technology, and property law. She has published dozens of books and articles over more than a decade, and she has edited academic books including an interdisciplinary volume on intellectual property and the retirement volume in honor of the former Deputy President of the Supreme Court, Justice Elyakim Rubinstein.
Professor Marcowitz-Bitton has organized and participated in numerous international and local conferences and events, particularly in the field of intellectual property but also in diverse areas such as discrimination against Mizrahi Jews in Israel. She has held a variety of positions at the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University, including head of the Commercial Law Center; head of the Civil Law Clinic; lead editor of the faculty publishing house; and member of various faculty and university committees and the senior academic staff union.
Professor Marcowitz-Bitton’s research spans a wide range of subjects. Her primary work is in civil law, including property law, contract law, unjust enrichment, and tort law. In the field of intellectual property, she has studied EU copyright policy; the legal, economic, historical, and international dimensions of databases as intellectual property; patent policy in the U.S. and Israel; copyright licensing policy in the online environment; international copyright law; comparative government-data commercialization policy in Israel, the U.S., and the EU; civil and criminal copyright enforcement; intellectual property securitization; intellectual property protection for computer-related inventions; theoretical analysis of patent protection; regulation of book markets in Europe and Israel; women’s participation in patent registration in the Israeli and American academy; the gender gap in patenting in Israel and the U.S.; minority group trademark registration in the U.S. and Israel; pharmaceutical market regulation in Israel and comparative analysis of parallel import practices; empirical analysis of the interface between unjust enrichment and intellectual property law; and patent protection for life-saving vaccines during pandemics, particularly COVID-19.
In the field of law and technology, Professor Marcowitz-Bitton has addressed a wide array of current issues, such as online shaming and potential legal responses; the Israeli Supreme Court’s approach to the challenges that emerging technologies pose to existing law; and the role of the fair use doctrine as a growth engine for content markets. In the area of property law, she writes on topics such as the impact of land registration on minorities in Israel and selection committee practices in communal settlements.
Professor Marcowitz-Bitton’s work has received broad recognition in Israel and abroad for its contributions to the development of Israeli law and the Israeli economy. For example, her empirical work on intellectual property rights registration offers meaningful insights into the significant barriers that women face in accessing the Israeli patent market and their impact on innovation in Israeli academia and beyond. Similarly, her research on land registration identifies reasons that minority groups are overrepresented in real estate-related accidents in Israel and offers solutions for improving the land registry process for those groups.
In addition to her academic work, Professor Marcowitz-Bitton worked for several years at a U.S. law firm, where she specialized in complex patent and copyright litigation, handling multi-million-dollar cases. In Israel, she has helped shape Israeli legal policy by advising both government and private entities on policy matters in her areas of expertise. For instance, she served as an advisor to the Ministry of Defense on a strategic team focused on commercializing knowledge within the defense establishment, which led to the creation of a defense accelerator and other innovative initiatives. She also advised the Ministry of Justice and other entities on a range of intellectual property and property law issues, including the protection of databases in Israel; the legal framework for resolving the dispute over the Tel Amal Stream (the Asi River); intellectual property protection for AI innovations; drafting the Design Law bill; preparing a modern Trademark Law; extending copyright protection for sound recordings; protecting performers in Israel; and securing rights for record producers. She has also participated in discussions of the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee regarding intellectual property legislation.
Professor Marcowitz-Bitton has served in various public positions, including as an academic representative on both the Council of Real Estate Appraisers and the Council for Higher Education; a member of the Ministry of Justice’s search committee for several positions; a member of the appointments committee for judges under the Entry into Israel Law; a member of the 2025 Health Basket Committee; and, most recently, a member of an investigatory committee regarding Kupat Holim Klalit, the largest health services provider in Israel.
As a woman with roots in the social and geographic periphery, Professor Marcowitz-Bitton has worked for many years to reduce gaps in higher education in Israeli society. She is a longtime volunteer with the ISEF Foundation, supporting the organization by mentoring research students, screening candidates, and conducting academic workshops. In recognition of her work, she was awarded the Edmond Safra Medal of Honor. She also contributes in various ways to other nonprofit organizations. In her academic role, she regularly supports students from marginalized groups and students with disabilities throughout their studies at the Faculty of Law and beyond.
Professor Marcowitz-Bitton was born in the city of Ashkelon, where she was educated in the national-religious school system. She completed her LL.B. and LL.M. degrees with distinction at Bar-Ilan University and later earned LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees from the University of Michigan Law School. She also completed postdoctoral research as a Microsoft Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and served as a law clerk for Israel’s former Attorney General, Elyakim Rubinstein, and later for the Israeli Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel.
Professor Markowitz-Bitton served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces for four and a half years. She currently resides with her family in Jerusalem.