Fair Dealing: Have We Had Fair Use All Along?

HKU Lecture in Intellectual Property

Date: November 9, 2016 (Wed)

Time: 1pm – 2pm

Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, HKU

Speaker: Ariel Katz, Associate Professor and Innovation Chair in Electronic Commerce, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

Abstract: Conventional wisdom holds that while the fair use doctrine in the United States is omnipresent and flexible, fair dealing, its Commonwealth cousin is more rigid and can only apply to the specifically enumerated statutory purposes. Fair use, on this view, is an American invention—foreign to the copyright traditions of the rest of the common law world.

Reflecting on the recent Canadian experience, and exploring its relevance to Hong Kong, Professor Katz will recount the history of fair use and fair dealing. He will argue that that the distinction between a US-style open-ended fair use and fair dealing is a myth that can be laid to rest. Rather than being a foreign legal implant, embracing an open-ended fair dealing is not only possible under the current legislation, but also provides the most internally, historically, and constitutionally coherent only interpretation of the Canadian Copyright Act.

About the speaker: Ariel Katz is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, where he holds the Innovation Chair in Electronic Commerce. Professor Katz received his LL.B. and LL.M from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his SJD from the University of Toronto. His general area of research involves economic analysis of competition law and intellectual property law, with allied interests in electronic commerce, pharmaceutical regulation, the regulation of international trade, and particularly the intersection of these fields. Between 2009 and 2012 Professor Katz was the Director of the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy. Prior to joining the University of Toronto Professor Katz was a staff attorney at the Israeli Antitrust Authority. While there, he litigated several merger appeals and restrictive arrangements cases before the Antitrust Tribunal and negotiated regulatory settlements.

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.

Poster

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