Book Launch & Panel Discussion: The Commercial Appropriation of Fame: A Cultural Analysis of the Right of Publicity and Passing Off

Date: September 26, 2017 (Tuesday)

Time: 6pm – 7pm

Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, the University of Hong Kong

Join David Tan (Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore) for the launch of his new book The Commercial Appropriation of Fame: A Cultural Analysis of the Right of Publicity and Passing Off.

Moderators:

1. Alice Lee, Associate Dean (Academic Affairs), Faculty of Law, HKU
2. Haochen Sun, Director, Law and Technology Centre & Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, HKU

Panelists:

1. Lawrence Lau, Barrister at the Gilt Chambers teaching Intellectual Property Policy and Practice
2. Jyh-An Lee, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong
3. Kenny Wong, Counsel, Hogan Lovells (Hong Kong)
4. Marco Wan, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, HKU

About the book: Celebrities can sell anything from cars to clothing, and we are constantly fascinated by their influence over our lifestyle choices. This book makes an important contribution to legal scholarship about the laws governing the commercial appropriation of fame. Exploring the right of publicity in the US and the passing off action in the UK and Australia, David Tan demonstrates how an appreciation of the production, circulation and consumption of fame can be incorporated into a pragmatic framework to further the understanding of the laws protecting the commercial value of the celebrity personality. Using contemporary examples such as social media and appropriation art, Tan shows how present challenges for the law may be addressed using this cultural framework. This book will be of interest to intellectual property law academics, judges, practitioners and students in the US and common law jurisdictions, as well as those in the field of cultural studies.

About the author: Associate Professor David Tan is Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, and oversees the academic curriculum for both undergraduate and master degree programs. He is the first at NUS Law to be appointed to the Dean’s Chair. He holds PhD, LLB (First Class Hons) and BCom degrees from the University of Melbourne and a LLM from Harvard. David pioneered the courses Entertainment Law and Freedom of Speech at NUS Law. He has held a visiting appointments at HKU and Melbourne Law School. His areas of research cover personality rights, copyright, trademarks, freedom of speech and tort law. His law publications have appeared in a wide range of journals.

All are welcome! 

1 CPD point will be granted to eligible participants. This talk has been accredited by The Law Society of Hong Kong for 1 CPD point