Mosaic IP Law and Policy Roundtable Conference
The Mosaic IP Law and Policy Roundtable connects IP scholars with political activists, practicing attorneys, community organizers, and policy makers to produce activist scholarship, to collaborate on various IP Empowerment policy initiatives and projects, and to otherwise help to shape and effectuate a progressive and contemporary IP socio-legal agenda.
About the Conference
Each IP Mosaic Conference is typically organized around a specific IP social justice legal issue, policy, or socio-economic challenge. Representative conference themes include equitable access to health, medicines, knowledge, and information; socially beneficial application of information technology and related advances to IP development and dissemination; legal protection for traditional and indigenous knowledge and expression; and promoting IP awareness, education, and entrepreneurial and socio-political empowerment in marginalized communities. The conference format is principally comprised of paper or project presentation sessions and plenary panel discussions. In addition, keynote presentations and “incubator project” and work in progress sessions are also mainstays of the conference.
Co-hosted by Marquette University Law School
2024 Theme | Looking Forward, Looking Back: IP Social Justice & Promoting Human Ingenuity
The IP Mosaic Conference is a unique convening of a diverse collective of academic scholars, policy leaders, and activists who meet to consider and critique IP protection. As we look back on 10 years of the IP Mosaic Conference and revisit the place where it all began, we reflect on the progress we’ve made in the last decade and consider where we go from here. One major evolution in IP law and policy is that the social justice obligations and effects of the IP regime are not questioned and this fundamental principle is now part of the prevailing scholarly and political discourse. In this Tenth Anniversary convening of IP Mosaic we will endeavor to consider what else has changed over the past decade? What remains the same? Has the way we think about humanity and creativity, and how IP protection can serve to foster human actualization towards society’s ultimate benefit changed? And what does progress look like moving forward?
Call For Student Papers – Due September 6
Submission details here.
Program Agenda
Friday, November 1
9:30 – 9:45 am CDT
2:30 – 2:45 pm GMT
Welcome & Remarks
Lateef Mtima, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law & Founder and Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ)
9:45 – 10:50 am CDT
2:45 – 3:50 pm GMT
Plenary Session: The New WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge: Origins, Context and Significance
Moderator: Metka Potočnik, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Wolverhampton, Law School and Director of The F-List for Music CIC
Panelist:
Wend Wendland, Director, Traditional Knowledge Division, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town
10:50 – 11:00 am CDT
3:50 – 4:00 pm GMT
Break
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CDT
4:00 – 5:00 pm GMT
Paper Presentation Panel 1: Creation, Access, and Dignity
Moderator: TBD
Presenters:
Michael Goodyear – Dignity and Deepfakes
Arunima Shastri and Himika Batra – Making Intellectual Property Greener: Aligning India’s Patent Regime with Environmental Sustainability through Eco-Patents
Cynthia Dahl and Vicki Phillips – Looking Forward: Data from IP Law Clinics on Their Role in Increasing Access to Justice (invited)
12:00 – 1:00 pm CDT
5:00 – 6:00 pm GMT
Meal Break
1:00 – 2:00 pm CDT
6:00 – 7:00 pm GMT
Paper Presentation Panel 2: Creation and Identity
Moderator: TBD
Presenters:
Tim McFarlin – State-Law Authorship
Sakshi Sharma – The Scarlett Letter (of Infringement) (invited)
Sarah (Fackrell) Burstein – Ornamentality and Crime
2:00 – 2:10 pm CDT
7:00 – 7:10 pm GMT
Break
2:10 – 3:10 pm CDT
7:10 – 8:10 pm GMT
Paper Presentation Panel 3: Traditional Knowledge and Social Justice
Moderator: TBD
Presenters:
Dalindyebo Shabalala – Taking Customary Law Seriously: Domestic Recognition of Traditional Knowledge
Kay Dunn – Empirical research for social justice in intellectual property and cultural creativity
Jack Lerner – Indigenous Expression, Social Justice, and Copyright: Lessons From Hawaiʻi’s Copyright History (invited)
5:00 – 7:00 pm CDT
HAPPY HOUR for in-person attendees
Saturday, November 2
9:30 – 9:45 am CDT
2:30 – 2:45 pm GMT
Welcome & Remarks
Lateef Mtima, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law & Founder and Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ)
9:45 – 11:15 am CDT
2:45 – 4:15 pm GMT
Paper Presentation Panel 4: Student Papers
Moderator: Tuneen Chisolm, Howard University School of Law
Presenters:
Samantha Lai – Expanding Creative Horizons: Fair Use of Celebrity Portraiture
Usayd Siddiqi – Butter Chicken to Big Data: Preventing Excessive Protection in Sui Generis Regimes
Christelle Tchaou, J.D. – Systemic Solutions for Systemic Racism: Proposing an Equitable Fair Use Defense to Patent Infringement as a Part of Reparations to Historically Underserved Communities
11:15 – 11:25 am CDT
4:15 – 4:25 pm GMT
Break
11:25 am – 12:30 pm CDT
4:25 – 5:30 pm GMT
Plenary Session: Policy
Moderator: Lateef Mtima, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law & Founder and Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ)
Panelists:
Tony Sebro, Change.org
Meredith Rose, Public Knowledge
Ann Chaitovitz, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
12:30 – 1:30 pm CDT
5:30 – 6:30 pm GMT
Meal Break
1:30 – 2:55 pm CDT
6:30 – 7:55 pm GMT
Paper Presentation Panel 5: Intellectual Property Theory and Social Justice
Moderator: TBD
Presenters:
Eden Howard (Wednesday Eden) – The ‘Unpropertizable’ Public Domain in UK and EU Copyright Law
Metka Potočnik – Humanity of Songs
— 5 min Break —
Justin Koo – De-Colonizing Copyright Law
Akshat Agarwal – Enabling Creative Production
2:55 pm CDT
7:55 pm GMT
Closing Remarks
Lateef Mtima, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law & Founder and Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ)
Friday, October 27
9:30 – 9:45 am CDT
2:30 – 2:45 pm GMT
Welcome & Remarks
Yolanda M. King, Director & Associate Professor of Law, Center for Intellectual Property, Information & Privacy Law, University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
Lateef Mtima, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law & Founder and Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ)
9:45 – 10:50 am CDT
2:45 – 3:50 pm GMT
Plenary Session: International IP and Climate Change
Moderator: Metka Potočnik, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Wolverhampton, Law School and Director of The F-List for Music CIC
Panelists:
Peter Oksen, World Intellectual Property Organization, Global Challenges Division
Antony Taubman, World Trade Organization, Intellectual Property Division
10:50 – 11:00 am CDT
3:50 – 4:00 pm GMT
Break
11:00 am – 12:35 pm CDT
4:00 – 5:35 pm GMT
Session Materials | Download Here
Paper Presentation Panel 1: IP & Tech
Moderator: Sandra Aistars, Clinical Professor of Law, and Founding Director of the Arts & Entertainment Advocacy Clinic, George Mason University Law School
Presenters:
Blake E Reid — Copyright’s First Responder Problem
Betsy Rosenblatt – Considering the Role of Fairness In Copyright Fair Use.
– 5 min break –
Lantagne – Automating Creative Effort: Free-Riding in an age of Artificial Intelligence
Liza Vertinsky – Patents, Partnerships and AI Innovation Policy.
12:35 – 1:30 pm CDT
5:35 – 6:30 pm GMT
Meal Break
1:30 – 2:55 pm CDT
6:30 – 7:55 pm GMT
Session Materials | Download Here
Paper Presentation Panel 2: 2023 Ben Liu Scholars
Moderator: Jasmine Abdel-Khalik, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
Presenters:
Elizabeth Ivwurie – Advancing Intellectual Property Social Justice in the Nigerian Creative Industries: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Path Forward.
Anupriya Dhonchak – A Feminist Approach to Publicity Rights in India.
–5 min Break —
Kay Dunn – Misappropriating Scottish Traditional Knowledge: Empowering Community Ownership Through IP Rights.
Ondrej Woznica – Unraveling the Value Gap: How Property Metaphors Shape Copyright Policy.
2:55 – 3:05 pm CDT
7:55 – 8:05 pm GMT
Break
3:05 – 3:45 pm CDT
8:05 – 8:45 pm GMT
Session Materials | Download Here
Paper Presentation Panel 3: The Role of Patent Law: from Technicalities to Social Correctives?
Moderator: Betsy Rosenblatt, Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve Law School
Panelists:
Sandra L Rierson and Mimi Afshar, HBCU’s Paving the Road to Recovery from Slavery, Jim Crow, and Persistent Racial Disparities in the USPTO.
Jordi Goodman, The Uncultured PHOSITA.
5:00 – 7:00 pm
HAPPY HOUR for in-person attendees
Saturday, October 28
9:30 – 9:45 am CDT
2:30 – 2:45 pm GMT
Welcome & Remarks
Yolanda M. King, Director & Associate Professor of Law, Center for Intellectual Property, Information & Privacy Law, University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
Lateef Mtima, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law & Founder and Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ)
9:45 – 11:10 am CDT
2:45 – 4:10 pm GMT
Session Materials | Download Here
Paper Presentation Panel 4: IP and Social Action: Ways to Empowerment?
Moderator: Jasmine Abdel-khalik, Professor, UMKC School of Law
Presenters:
Michael P Goodyear, Queer Trademarks.
Bhamati Viswanathan, Women’s Work.
—5 min Break–
Victoria F Phillips, Intellectual Property Clinics—Helping to Empower All Creators.
11:10 – 11:20 am CDT
4:10 – 4:20 pm GMT
Break
11:20 am – 12:35 pm CDT
4:20 – 5:35 pm GMT
Session Materials | Download Here
Plenary Session: Copyright Behind Bars: At the Intersection of Systemic Incarceration and IP Social Justice
Moderator: John R. Whitman, Ph.D., author, Executive Director, Museum for Black Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Panelists:
Jeanie Austin, Ph.D., Librarian, Jail and Reentry Services, San Francisco Public Library
Wendy Jason, Founder and Director, Justice Arts Coalition, nonprofit national network for those creating art in and around the criminal justice system (invited)
Doran Larson, Ph.D, Professor of Literature, Hamilton College and Founder and Co-Director of the American Prison Writing Archive
Viva R. Moffat, Professor of Law, Co-Director, Intellectual Property and Technology Law Program, Sturm College of Law, University of Denver, advocating for IP rights for currently/formerly incarcerated and society
Fury Young, Founder and Co-Executive Director, Die Jim Crow, the first nonprofit record label for currently and formerly incarcerated artists
12:35 – 1:35 pm CDT
5:35 – 6:35 pm GMT
Meal Break
1:35 – 3:45 pm CDT
6:35 – 8:45 pm GMT
Session Materials | Download Here
Paper Presentation Panel 5: Music Creators and Socity: System Reboot or Reform to Building Better Partnerships?
Moderator: Sandra Aistars, Clinical Professor of Law, and Founding Director of the Arts & Entertainment Advocacy Clinic, George Mason University Law School
Presenters:
Meredith Rose – Streaming in the Dark: Lessons and Reforms from Behind the NDA Curtain.
Olufunmilayo Arewa, Margaret Chon, and Jacqueline Lipton – Incentive to Create or to Exploit? Music Creation and Copyright Abuse.
–5 min Break —
Metka Potočnik – Misogyny in Music: a Feminist Reading of Performers’ Rights.
Benjamin Bierman – The Music Business, the Other 99 Percent.
–5 min Break —
Sean O’Connor – Copyright as a Matter of Style.
Gilden and Subotnik – Copyright’s Capacity Gap.
3:45 pm CDT
8:45 pm GMT
Closing Remarks
Lateef Mtima, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law & Founder and Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ)
Thank you to our Conference Planning Committee!
Conference Planning Committee
Jasmine Abdel-Khalik, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law Kali Murray, Marquette University Law School
Tuneen Chisolm, Howard University School of Law Metka Potocnik, University of Wolverhampton, Law School
Betsy Rosenblatt, The University of Tulsa, College of Law Jack Lerner, UC Irvine School of Law
Lateef Mtima, Howard University School of Law Kara Swanson, Northeastern University School of Law
Since 2014, IIPSJ has sponsored the IP Mosaic Conference. Through the IP Mosaic, IIPSJ collaborates with a law school host to provide a venue in which to explore the social ordering function of IP protection in the total political economy, particularly the law’s social justice obligations in promoting human rights and actualization, cultural and technological progress, and self-determination and nation-building.
The IP Mosaic Conference was established to bring together scholars, law and policy makers, and social activists of diverse and multicultural backgrounds and perspectives to explore progressive, social justice-oriented ideas in intellectual property law, policy, and social activism. Beginning in the late twentieth century, digital information technology and other innovations sparked a paradigm shift in scholarly assessment of the social ordering function of IP protection, exposing the need to critically examine the law’s social justice obligations in promoting human rights, self-determination, cultural progress, and nation-building and evolution. IP law and policy makers traditionally value scholarly analyses in their development and interpretation of IP protection. Progressive, social justice-oriented IP scholarship, especially when infused with the experience and insights of policy makers and social activists, can provide the doctrinal basis for shaping a more socially responsible IP legal regime.
IIPSJ Institutional Partners
