Second HKU-Vienna Workshop on IP and Prosumerism (Report)

Second HKU-Vienna Joint Workshop on Intellectual Property and Prosumerism

Following the success of the first joint workshop at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Vienna) on 8 March 2016, the second joint workshop on IP and Prosumerism was held at HKU on 6 May 2016. The workshop invited officials of the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department (HKIPD), Miss S.K. Lee and Jasmine Kun, to provide an overview of Hong Kong’s proposed copyright law amendment, which was followed by a roundtable discussion on prosumerism and Hong Kong copyright law, moderated by Professor Martin Winner of WU Vienna, and participated by Dr. Frank Wan, Mr. Geoffrey Lau and Mr. Ronald Yu. The second part of the workshop consisted of four excellent presentations by Dr. Jyh-An Lee (CUHK), Dr. Clemens Appl (WU Vienna), Dr. Wenwei Guan (CityU), and Mr. Stefan Holzweber (Wu Vienna) on the topics of Copyright Divisibility and the Anti-Commons, Multi-Authoring in User Innovation, Antitrust Enforcement of SEP’s FRAND Terms in TRIPS Context, and A Competition Law Perspective on Prosumerism, respectively, and were thoroughly commented by, inter alia, Dr. Haochen Sun (HKU) and Mr. Kelvin Kwok (HKU). The papers of the two workshops will be edited for publication in the near future. Written by Dr Li Yahong, co-organizer of the workshops.

Li Yahong Speaks in Vienna at "Prosumerism and Intellectual Property" Collaborative Workshop

On 8 March 2016, Dr. Yahong Li presented “User Generated Content (UGC) from International and Chinese Perspective” in the Joint Research Workshop on “Prosumerism and IP” at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. In her presentation, she introduced the characteristics and economic value of UGC, the current international trend of UGC protection, and the development, models, and features of UGC in China. She then discussed the relationship between UGC and copyright, and argued that UGC deserves better protection as it has created important economic values while being unfairly exploited by the powerful social media and Internet giants. She advocates giving a proper legal status to UGC, not only fair use defense. 

     The joint workshop is a part of the joint research project “Prosumerism and IP” which is undertaken by the IT/IP-Law Group of Vienna University of Economics and Business, and sponsored by the Austrian government under its EURASIA PACIFIC UNINET funding scheme, to which Dr. Yahong Li was invited as a co-investigator. This first joint workshop invited about 15 speakers, discussing the relationship between prosumerism and 3D-printing, moral rights and UGC. The second joint workshop is planned to be held at HKU Faculty of Law on 6 May 2016, and will cover similar topics.