Colloquium Details
Copyright Piracy and the Creative Industries in China
| Author: | Eric Priest University of Oregon School of Law |
|---|---|
| Date: | May 20, 2010 |
| Time: | 15:30 |
| Location: | 220 Deschutes |
| Host: | Virginia Lo |
Abstract
Can China, with its enormous population and voracious appetite for software and entertainment, ever fulfill its potential to be an immensely lucrative market for copyrighted works? Nearly a decade after China's entry into the WTO, copyright piracy remains endemic, and foreign and domestic copyright owners remain frustrated. Professor Priest's talk will provide an introduction to the causes and scope of the copyright piracy challenge in China and its effect on the foreign and domestic music, film, and software industries. How have the Chinese creative industries adapted their business models to survive in a high-piracy environment? How does the internet affect the Chinese copyright industries at a time when online file sharing creates unprecedented challenges (and perhaps opportunities) for copyright owners everywhere? What role does the Chinese government play in enforcing copyright law, and how important is copyright likely to be to official innovation policy going forward?
Biography
Professor Priest holds a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota, a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Chicago-Kent Law Review, and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he was a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society developing a next-generation copyright licensing system for the legal distribution of digital works over the Internet. He also researched internet censorship and surveillance practices in several Asian countries for the center's OpenNet Initiative. Previously, he was an intellectual property associate at Dorsey & Whitney LLP.
Before becoming a lawyer, Professor Priest was a songwriter and music producer, with gold- and platinum-selling international releases to his credit . He also worked in the Chinese music industry as a consultant, entrepreneur, and producer.
Professor Priest's research interests include intellectual property law; Chinese intellectual property law and the Chinese entertainment industries; digital copyright; and open access scholarship.