David 
TAN

 
Professor

Co-Director, Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and the Law

David Tan was Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) at NUS Law from January 2015 to June 2021. He holds a PhD from Melbourne Law School (2010), a LLM from Harvard (1999), and graduated with a LLB (First Class Honours)/BCom from the University of Melbourne (1995). He has taught courses at Melbourne Law School (Intellectual Property & Popular Culture; Constitutional Law) and University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Law (Entertainment Law). David was formerly with the Singapore Administrative Service, serving as Director of Sports at Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports and Director of International Talent at Ministry of Manpower. He has also had work experience at McKinsey & Company and DBS Bank.

FULL BIOGRAPHY

Contact

david.tan@nus.edu.sg
(65) 6516-6781
ETS-01-01B

Education

PhD (University of Melbourne); LLM (Harvard University); LLB (Hons), BCom (University of Melbourne)

Curriculum Vitae

View CV

Current Courses

Law of Torts

David Tan was Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) at NUS Law from January 2015 to June 2021. He holds a PhD from Melbourne Law School (2010), a LLM from Harvard (1999), and graduated with a LLB (First Class Honours)/BCom from the University of Melbourne (1995). He has taught courses at Melbourne Law School (Intellectual Property & Popular Culture; Constitutional Law) and University of Hong Kong, Faculty of Law (Entertainment Law). David was formerly with the Singapore Administrative Service, serving as Director of Sports at Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports and Director of International Talent at Ministry of Manpower. He has also had work experience at McKinsey & Company and DBS Bank.

At NUS Law, David pioneered courses in Entertainment Law, Fashion Law, Freedom of Speech, and Privacy & Data Protection Law. His areas of research cover personality rights, copyright, trademarks, freedom of expression, constitutional law and tort law, and his articles have been cited on a number of occasions by the Singapore Court of Appeal and High Court.

David has published over 60 articles, comments, book chapters and review essays since joining NUS Law in 2008. In the area of law, he has published in a diverse range of journals such as the Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law, Yale Journal of International Law, Sydney Law Review, Law Quarterly Review, Law & Literature, International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, Media & Arts Law Review, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, Torts Law Journal and Australian Intellectual Property Journal. His monograph — The Commercial Appropriation of Fame: A Cultural Analysis of the Right of Publicity & Passing Off — on celebrity personality rights was published by Cambridge University Press in hardback in 2017, and in paperback in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_27X6UaExZQ&feature=youtu.be

David is also an accomplished fine art and fashion photographer having published a coffeetable book Visions of Beauty in association with Versace, and Tainted Perfection in collaboration with Cartier in Singapore, and has had over half a dozen solo exhibitions. His works have appeared in Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Time and The New Yorker.

Book Chapters
David Tan, 'Logo Hacking, Downmarket Irony, and Counterfeit Chic: A Study of Contemporary Fashion Trends and Their Implications for Trademark Law' in Haochen Sun and Barton Beebe (eds), Charting Limitations on Trademark Rights (Oxford University Press 2023) 52

David Tan, 'Trademarks as Language in the 21st Century' in Susy Frankel, Margaret Chon, Graeme B. Dinwoodie, Jens Schovsbo and Barbara Lauriat (eds), Improving Intellectual Property: A Global Project (Edward Elgar Publishing 2023) 266

David Tan, 'Enterprise Risk and Vicarious Liability in Singapore' in Paula Giliker (ed), Vicarious Liability in the Common Law World (Hart Publishing 2022) 121

Ng-Loy Wee Loon and David Tan, 'Intellectual Property' in Simon Chesterman, Goh Yihan and Andrew Phang Boon Leong (eds), Law and Technology in Singapore (Academy Publishing 2021) 399

David Tan, 'Intellectual Property and Semiotics: The Signs of the Times' in Irene Calboli and Maria Lillà Montagnani (eds), Handbook of Intellectual Property Research: Lenses, Methods, and Perspectives (Oxford University Press 2021) 373

David Tan, 'Parody, Satire, Caricature, and Pastiche: Fair Dealing Is No Laughing Matter' in Shyamkrishna Balganesh, Ng-Loy Wee Loon and Haochen Sun (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Copyright Limitations and Exceptions (Cambridge University Press 2021) 324

David Tan, 'Commercial Exploitation of the Human Persona in the United States' in J. Ginsburg and I. Calboli (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of International and Comparative Trademark Law (Cambridge University Press 2020) 353

Journal Articles
David Tan, 'Generative AI and Copyright – Part 2: Computational Data Analysis Exception and Fair Use' [2023] SAL Practitioner 25

David Tan, 'Trademarks in the Metaverse: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once' (2023) 25 (4) Media and Arts Law Review 285

David Tan, 'Artificial Intelligence as Artist: Copyright and the Rise of Creativity' (2023) 8 Cultural Connections 29

David Tan, 'Generative AI and Copyright – Part 1: Copyright Infringement' [2023] SAL Practitioner 24

David Tan, 'The Price of Generative AI Learning: Exceptions and Limitations under the New Singapore Copyright Act' [2023] European Intellectual Property Review 400

Joshua Phang and David Tan, 'Instrumentality and the Scope of the Unlawful Means Tort' (2023) 35 Singapore Academy of Law Journal 53

David Tan, 'Freedom of Speech in Singapore: A Living Tree Cannot Thrive Within Four Walls' (2022) 96 (10) Australian Law Journal 727

David Tan and Susanna H S Leong, 'Intellectual Property Law' (2022) 23 Singapore Academy of Law Annual Review of Singapore Cases 577

Wee Liang Tan and David Tan, 'AI, Author, Amanuensis' (2022) 6 (2) Journal of Intellectual Property Studies 1

David Tan, 'Data Analytics in Fintech and the New Copyright Act' [2022] SAL Practitioner 4

David Tan, 'Designing a Future-Ready Copyright Regime in Singapore: Quick Wins and Missed Opportunities' (2021) 70 (12) GRUR International 1131

David Tan and Thomas Lee, 'Copying Right in Copyright Law: Fair Use, Computational Data Analysis and the Personal Data Protection Act' (2021) 33 Singapore Academy of Law Journal 1032

David Tan and Susanna H S Leong, 'Intellectual Property Law' (2021) 22 Singapore Academy of Law Annual Review of Singapore Cases 567

David Tan, 'Digital Memes, Fair Use, and the First Amendment' (2021) 24 (9) Journal of Internet Law 1

David Tan and Angus Wilson, 'Copyright Fair Use and the Digital Carnivalesque: Towards a New Lexicon of Transformative Internet Memes' (2021) 31 Fordham Intellectual Property Media and Entertainment Law Journal 864

David Tan and Samuel Lim, 'All the World’s a Stage, but what is a Dramatic Work?' [2020] Singapore Journal of Legal Studies 702

Benjamin Wong and David Tan, 'A Modern Approach to Breach of Confidence Based on an Obligation of Conscience' (2020) 136 Law Quarterly Review 548

David Tan and Susanna H S Leong, 'Intellectual Property Law' (2020) 21 Singapore Academy of Law Annual Review of Singapore Cases 634

David Tan and Jessica Teng Sijie, 'Fake News, Free Speech and Finding Constitutional Congruence' (2020) 32 Singapore Academy of Law Journal 207

David Tan, 'De(Re)Constructing Narratives in Intellectual Property Law: Transformative Play, Culture Jamming, and Poststructural Disruptions' (2020) 32 (1) Law & Literature 75

  • Entertainment Law
  • Copyright
  • Trademarks
  • Right of Publicity
  • Right of Privacy/Breach of Confidence
  • Cultural Studies
  • Freedom of Speech
  • Tort Law