Seminar - Linking on the Internet and Copyright Liability – a Clarion Call for Doctrinal Clarity and Legal Certainty

Prompted by the decisions of the CJEU in Nils Svensson v Retriever Sverige AB (Case C-466/12) and GS Media BV v Sanoma Media Netherlands BV (Case C-160/15), this seminar attempts to unmask the potential copyright liability of an Internet user who engages in hyperlinking, framing and/or inline linking from a principled and conceptually coherent perspective. The main thrust of the discussion in this seminar will be guided by the following two questions:

 

(1) Do these forms of online activity constitute acts of communication (or making available) in the first instance?

 

(2) Should they fall within the purview of Article 3(1) of the EU Information Society Directive and be subject to potential primary/direct liability (as opposed to accessory/indirect liability)?

 

It is hoped that this seminar will offer a rational view of the ongoing debate (and provide sensible answers to these questions) by drawing on the established jurisprudence of the courts in Europe, the UK and elsewhere as well as by having regard to the various interpretations of the concept of “publication” in the law of defamation (in particular, Canadian law). The speaker will also offer his views as to how these issues ought to be examined in the Singapore context.
 

 

Speaker
 

Saw Cheng Lim is an Associate Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University (SMU) where he has taught for more than 18 years.  His research interests lie mainly in the law of intellectual property and he has published widely in both local and international journals, including the Singapore Academy of Law Journal, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, Journal of Business Law, Cambridge Law Journal, European Intellectual Property Review, International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law and International Journal of Law and Information Technology.  He is a Senior Fellow at the IP Academy of Singapore and was also a member of its Advisory Panel from 1 April 2012 – 31 March 2016.  From 1 August 2013 – 30 June 2017, he also served as Director of the LL.M. Programme at the SMU School of Law. Cheng Lim holds an LL.B. (Hons) degree from the National University of Singapore and an LL.M. degree from the University of Cambridge, England.

 

Public CPD Points - 3 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.

Click here for the newsletter and registration link.
 

The event is jointly organized with the SMU Law Academy.