CICL 2014

The Sixth Annual Conference on Innovation and Communications Law (CICL) was held in Leeds, England on 2 and 3 July, 2014. The University of Leeds kindly agreed to host the 2014 conference in its new Conference Center. CICL—a joint venture involving the University of Turku (Finland), the University of Eastern Finland, the University of Louisville (USA), Michigan State University (USA), and Drake University (USA)—explores legal issues involving intellectual property law, communications law, and other issues related to these areas or the intersection of the two. The conference theme varies from year to year.

Call for paper

The general conference theme for 2014 involves distortions and disincentives created by intellectual property and communications law rules and systems. We seek to showcase scholars whose research touches upon this general theme. For example, research dealing with how the “commodification” model of intellectual property affects the sorts of innovation that occurs would be a good fit. Similarly, the effects of trade secret/breach of confidence protection on the dissemination of knowledge, or analysis of how existing communications regulations, such as broadcasting licensing, helps or hinders the creation of media content.

Day One (2 July) will involve a general discussion of the theme. Papers on any aspect of communications and intellectual property law are welcome, provided they deal with the overall theme of distortions and disincentives. Presentation of papers will be organized according to various areas of the law or innovation or communications type.

Day Two (3 July) will involve a workshop dealing with a particular subtheme, namely, the implications of convergence of digital and biological technologies. Molecular biology is sometimes treated as a branch of information technology. Digital technologies are increasingly being used in the production, analysis and application of molecular biological data, and are considered capable of enabling a full comprehension of how cellular processes work, and can be manipulated. Sub-cellular structural and functional elements are also increasingly described in terms of information and computer science analogies and definitions. This paradigm is drastically changing scientific and commercial practices in the life sciences in ways that remain to be comprehensively and critically analyzed.

The workshop aims to enhance socio-legal scholarship by instigating a dialogue between leading legal scholars and others from the fields of molecular biology and bioinformatics, social studies of science, and economics, in order to feed into the policy-making process.

The venue for the conference will be the new Conference Center at the University of Leeds, England. The registration fee is $ 100 US, which includes the conference dinner on the 2nd and lunches. The registration fee will be waived for those who are accepted to present papers at the conference. We have also arranged for a block of rooms on the University of Leeds campus, in the Conference Center. Participants might also opt for a hotel room in the city center, which is within walking distance of the campus. Please note that because the first stage of the Tour de France is to be held this year in Leeds, during the weekend following the conference, hotel rooms may be in short supply.

To submit a paper for consideration, please send an abstract to Professor John Cross, University of Louisville (USA) at john.cross@louisville.edu. Please specify whether you are interested in the general session or the workshop. To receive full consideration, abstracts should be submitted by 1 April, 2014.