CICL 2025 – CALL FOR PAPERS

Building legal infrastructure for the digital economy – 15th Annual Conference on Innovation and Communications Law (CICL), May 22-23, Joensuu (Finland)  

Launched in 2008, CICL is jointly organized by the University of Turku Faculty of Law (Finland), the University of Eastern Finland Law School, the University of Louisville School of Law (USA), Michigan State University College of Law (USA), Texas A&M University School of Law (USA), the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the University of Szeged (Hungary), and IPR University Center (Finland). Each year, CICL brings together top scholars exploring issues in intellectual property law, communications law, and issues related to the intersection of the two. The annual CICL conference has been held at leading institutions around the world, and new attendees this year will join an already well-established community. 

The previous conferences: 

  1. CICL 2008 – July 17-18, 2008, in Turku, Finland (University of Turku) 
  1. CICL 2009 – August 21-22, 2009, in Louisville, Kentucky, USA (University of Louisville) 
  1. CICL 2011 – May 29-31, 2011, Melbourne, Australia (La Trobe University) 
  1. CICL 2012 – May 24-25, 2012, Turku, Finland (University of Turku & Åbo Akademi University) 
  1. CICL 2013 – May 14-16, 2013, in Traverse City, Michigan, USA (Michigan State University) 
  1. CICL 2014 – July 2-3, 2014, in Leeds, England (University of Leeds) 
  1. CICL 2015 – July 6 -7, 2015, in Xiamen, China (Xiamen University) 
  1. CICL 2016 – May 25-26, 2016, in Joensuu, Finland (University of Eastern Finland) 
  1. CICL 2017 – May 29-30, 2017, in Szeged, Hungary (University of Szeged) 
  1. CICL 2018 – May 3-4, 2018, in Milan, Italy (Bocconi University) – 10th Year Anniversary 
  1. CICL 2019 – May 3-4, 2019, in Las Vegas, USA (University of Nevada) 
  1. CICL 2022 – May 18-21, 2022, in Krems, Austria, (Danube University Krems and Vienna University of Economics and Business) 
  1. CICL 2023 – May 11-12, 2023, in Poznan, Poland (AMU Poznan) 
  1. CICL 2024 – May 30-31, 2024, in Leeds, UK (University of Leeds) 
  1. CICL 2025 – May 22-23, 2025, in Joensuu, Finland (UEF Law School) 

  

This year CICL conference will be hosted by UEF Law School (University of Eastern Finland) in Joensuu, Finland on 22-23 May. The organizers of CICL 2025 invite papers on the theme 

Building Legal Infrastructure for the Digital Economy.  

The year 2025 marks a quarter of a century from the first legal strides into regulating the commercial internet based on a global consensus of preserving the free flow of e-commerce. Today, an intricate web of national and regional regulation of digital platforms, intellectual property and AI-technology matures the transition into a digital economy, where governments, businesses and users depend on digital services and digital infrastructure for completion of transactions.  Legal ownership and control of digital property, platforms and critical technologies are at the heart of contemporary debates, whether network technologies, standard contract terms or social media platforms are concerned. Topical issues today relate to green and economically balanced transitions: How to integrate the sustainable use of global resources to empower the digital economy? How to create trust in the global digital market that maintains existing standards and expectations of safety of interactions and security of transactions? What are the safeguards on private actors?  

  

We invite papers on the following themes:  

  1. innovations law, e.g. AI-generated innovation, NFTs for creative industries, biotechnology  
  1. communications law, e.g. essential technologies, platform liability, data, media and advertising law  
  1. institutional and algorithmic enforcement, e.g. digital currencies, large language models, AI technologies, content moderation  
  1. securing digital property and rights, e.g. smart contracts, data privacy, digital assets, NFTs and trade secrets  
  1. digital markets law, e.g. global initiatives, soft law, enforcement, unfair competition  
  1. intellectual property law, e.g. emerging issues regarding trademarks, copyright, design and other fields of IP  

Please submit your abstract via this Form by 17th March 2025. Abstracts will be reviewed on a rolling basis.  

This Call for papers is reserved for recognized scholars and Ph.D. candidates. Accepted applicants must provide an academic affiliation. Please note that CICL2025 is an in-person event.  

There is no registration fee associated with attending the CICL Conference. The conference follows the pay-as-you go format, which means that all presenters and attendees must cover their own travel and accommodation expenses. All confirmed presenters must register for the Conference via this Form by 30th April 2025.  

For further inquiries, please contact us via: cicl2025@uef.fi.

For accomodation please click here; and Joensuu’s campus info can be found here.