Paul J. Heald (born April 19, 1959) is an American novelist and law professor, best known for his murder mysteries and his empirical studies of the public domain. His fiction is published by Skyhorse Publishing, and he is currently the Richard W. & Marie L. Corman Research Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law. Heald is the author of three novels, two books on Law and Literature, and over 50 scholarly articles and book chapters, mostly on intellectual property law. He is also a Fellow & Associated Researcher, CREATe, RCUK Centre for Copyright, University of Glasgow.