Director General of WIPO delivers keynote at NUS conference

On 14 November 2022, the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Mr Daren Tang (NUS Class of 1997), delivered the keynote address at the Asian Pacific Copyright Association (APCA) Conference held at the Bukit Timah Campus of NUS Law. The conference in hybrid mode attracted participants from over a dozen countries that spanned Austria to Australia.

Co-hosted by the EW Barker Centre for Law & Business and the Centre for Technology, Robotics, AI & the Law (TRAIL), the theme of the conference was “Copyright in the Age of Disruption”. Over two dozen papers and presentations discussed how copyright law should address myriad disruptive phenomena such as the evolving use of artificial intelligence, the ascendancy of cultural appropriation concerns, the creation of the metaverse, new communication technologies, NFTs and fast fashion.

Speaking via Zoom from Geneva, Mr Tang commented that the theme was a “timely and timeless one”, and said: “Fast moving industries from AI to eSports have clear copyright dimensions. Indeed, in many cases, such as the metaverse, IP rights are integral to establishing and upholding the legal framework on which the sector will stand.” He concluded: “Just as it has done in the past, the academic community has a key role to play in informing debate and developing new and forward-looking solutions. Indeed, in many ways, the future of copyright begins at conferences like this – open and collaborative forums where ideas can be presented, tested and discussed.”

Selected papers from the conference will undergo a peer-review process and will be published in the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies in 2023.