Synopsis
While policy makers put very high hopes in intellectual property as an essential mean to the development of the so-called “knowledge economy”, its legitimacy has never been questioned so intensely in public opinion. Indeed, more and more scholars, NGO’s, civil society movements and even political parties have been arguing against a legal system that is considered at times to be “overprotective” and the consequences of which- if handled unwisely- could in the long run be negative both on the economy and on common welfare. According to these opinions, we are facing a bizarre paradox: intellectual property, which is meant to stimulate intellectual activity and to provide incentives for creativity, could progressively become an obstacle to innovation and to social progress. This lecture will try to show that human rights can represent an effective tool to check these tendencies of overprotection and thus help the IP system to recover the legitimacy that it progressively seem to have lost. Taking the European legal order as an example, where the role of human rights has in recent times significantly increased, it will be demonstrated that such a “constitutionalization” can allow the intellectual property system to be examined through the lens of ethical norms and therefore be helpful in identifying certain solutions for the interpretation and the adaptation of the legal framework, thereby guaranteeing an equitable balance of the interests involved in the near future.
Professor Calboli will introduce the speaker and act as a moderator for the debate questions following the lecture.
Speaker's Profile
Christophe Geiger is Professor of Law, Director General and Director of the Research Department of the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) at the University of Strasbourg (France). In addition, he is an affiliated senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich (Germany) as well as Spangenberg Fellow at the Spangenberg Center for Law, Technology & the Arts, Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland (US). He specializes in national, European, international and comparative intellectual property law, acts as external expert for the European Parliament and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), has drafted reports on IP for the European and international institutions and taught as visiting professor in several universities. He is also General Editor of the Collection of the CEIPI published by LexisNexis, co-editor of the EIPIN series published by Edward Elgar, co-editor of the CEIPI-ICTSD Publication Series on “Global Perspectives and Challenges for the Intellectual Property System” and member of the editorial board of several journals on IP law. He has published numerous articles as well as authored and edited many volumes in this field, the most recent being “Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property: A Handbook of Contemporary Research” (2012), “Constructing European Intellectual Property: Achievements and New Perspectives” (2013), “Research Handbook on Human Rights and Intellectual Property” (2015) by Edward Elgar, and “What Patent Law for the European Union?” (2013), “The Contribution of Case Law to the Construction of Intellectual Property in Europe” (2013, in French); “Intellectual Property Law in a Globalized World” (with Caroline Rodà, 2014), “The Intellectual Property System in a Time of Change: European and International Perspectives” (2016), by LexisNexis.
Programme
2.30pm - Registration
3.00pm – Lecture
4.30pm – Refreshments & End of Event
Public CPD Points - 1.5 points
This programme is an Accredited CPD Activity under the SILE’s CPD Scheme. Participants who wish to claim CPD Points are reminded that they must comply strictly with the Attendance Policy set out in the CPD Guidelines. This includes signing-in on arrival and signing-out at the conclusion of the activity in the manner required by the organiser, and not being absent from the entire activity for more than 15 minutes. Participants who do not comply with the Attendance Policy will not be able to obtain CPD Points for attending the activity. Please refer to http://www.silecpdcentre.sg for more information.
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Last updated on 16 Sep 2016 .
