New England Law Review Spring Symposium

Against Progress: Intellectual Property and Fundamental Values in the Internet Age
Featuring Jessica Silbey and panelists
Moderated by Professor Viswanathan

April 11th

New England Law | Boston
Cherry Room

4:30 pm to 6:30 pm

Join New England Law Review on Thursday, April 11th, as Professor Jessica Silbey examines the everyday experiences that creators and innovators navigate daily in the digital modern world.

Since its inception, intellectual property has aimed to facilitate the “progress of science and the useful arts,” granting rights to authors and inventors. With technological expansion comes a growing wealth inequality and social and political divisiveness with the true goal of progress potentially on fundamental human values, redirecting intellectual property emphasis from private interest to the Commonwealth.

Against Progress considers contemporary debates about Intellectual property law and the connections between the constitutional mandate of practice and fundamental values challenged in today’s internet age.

About The Panelists

  • Jessica Silbey

    Jessica Silbey is the author of “Against Progress: Intellectual Property and Fundamental Values in the Internet Age” and is a Professor of Law at Boston University. Professor Silbey teaches intellectual property law and constitutional law. She has authored numerous books, including “The Eureka Myth: Creators, Innovators, and Everyday Intellectual Property.” She is an Affiliate Fellow at the Yale Information Society Project and Boston University’s Center for Innovation in Social Science. Professor Silbey has multiple postgraduate degrees, including a J.D. and Ph.D. in comparative literature.

  • Rebecca Schoff Curtin

    Rebecca Curtin is a nationally recognized intellectual property scholar specializing in the early history of copyright and intellectual property transactions. Professor Curtin currently teaches at Suffolk University and has taught various courses, including copyright, trademark, and intellectual property transactions. Professor Curtin has authored several articles and books, including “Reformations: Three Medieval Authors in Manuscript and Movable Type.” Professor Curtin currently holds a Ph.D. and J.D.

  • Joseph Liu

    Joseph Liu currently teaches at Boston College. Professor Liu teaches copyright, trademark, and internet law. Professor Liu specializes in how digital technology changes consumers' interactions with copyrighted works. Professor Liu has published extensively on copyright law issues in many law journals and is also the co-author of the casebook Copyright Law: Essential Cases and Materials. Before Boston College, Professor Liu served as Vice President and General Counsel to a venture-backed internet startup. Professor Liu currently holds a J.D. and L.L.M.

  • Stephen McJohn

    Stephen McJohn teaches at Suffolk University. Professor McJohn teaches commercial law, computer law, intellectual property, and law and economics. Professor McJohn has written numerous works, including Intellectual Property: Commercial, Creative and Industrial Property; Licensing of Intellectual Property, Cyberlaw, Copyright: Examples and Explanations, and Resale Restrictions on Artworks. Professor McJohn focuses on intellectual property, computer law, and artificial intelligence.