“Old Media v. Social Media: Some Observations”
In Toronto on April 26, 2017 I participated in The Law Society of Upper Canada’s 2017 Entertainment & Media Law Symposium. The panel I was part of was entitled “#BraveNewWorld: How to Practice Social Media Law.” Being far and away the oldest of the panellists, I proved my age by through my topic “Old Media v. Social Media: Some Observations”. If you reflect on video games deeply enough you can see that they represented a form of social media long before that term became fashionable. In that context most of what I had to say could be applied equally to game forums and in-game communications.Slides above.
Jon
“Trusting Ourselves: Freedom of Thought in Virtual Realities” @ More Than Just A Game lll, April 6, 2017, London U.K.
Again this past April I was honoured to participate in my wonderful colleague, Professor Gaetano Dimita’s outstanding annual international “More Than Just a Game” conference, in London, U.K. The conference was fittingly put on at historic Stationers’ Hall by the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, aided and abetted by a group of excellent and generous sponsors. My talk focussed on when and how the law could intervene when virtual reality becomes so convincing that our freedom of thought becomes compromised.
Above is a video of my talk, then the slides related to it and finally a link to video of all of the panels at the conference.
Here’s to the 2018 edition of “More Than Just a Game”, and to many more thereafter….
Jon
Legal Contradictions Manifest in Video Game Worlds: Copyright through the Post-Structuralist Looking Glass
In the spring I was invited by my colleague Gaetano Dimita (http://www.law.qmul.ac.uk/staff/dimita.html) of The School of Law, Queen Mary University of London to participate in the second edition of an academic conference he organizes called “More Than Just A Game: Interactive Entertainment & Intellectual Property Law”. The conference, which took place on April 8, 2016 was a great success, and I presented on “Legal Contradictions in Video Game Worlds: Copyright through the Post-Structuralist Looking Glass.” My core message was that video game mods should be presumptively legal. I explored the reasons why and suggested some possible mechanisms to, in the words of Captain Picard, make it so.
In preparation for my London adventure I was privileged to present a draft iteration at a Faculty Seminar at the Allard School of Law, UBC on March 16, 2016. Thanks to Natasha Affolder and Janine Benedet for the invitation, and Joe Weiler for moderating. Thanks as well as to everyone who came, asked questions and helped me “sharpen the saw” through their questions.
There was no video of the QMUL conference while the Allard Faculty Seminar was recorded and edited thanks to Dan Silverman. As a result, below you will find the slides from the final presentation in London, video from Vancouver, and some bonus memorabilia from both.
jon
Class 11 – 12/2/15; “Controlling the Controllers: Privacy, Cultural Perspectives & Post-Structuralism” & Mark Devereux
Video & slides follow.
jon
Class 10 – 11/25/15; “Mass Effects” & Andy Moore
Video and slides follow.
jon
Class 9 – 11/18/15; “Controlling Originality” & Jennifer Kelly
Video and slides below.
jon
UNESCO Convention Roundtable Video & Slides
For the sake of completeness here is video of my short presentation on “Relevance for Creative Digitization & the Internet” at the “Roundtable on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions – Impacts and Implications of the UNESCO Convention Ten Years After and Ten Years Ahead: The View From BC” as well as the related slides, the explanatory poster for the event and . Although the conference took place at Simon Fraser University on February 25, 2015, the video has only been posted much more recently.
Of relevance to themes of the course are the tensions existing between cultural protections and the digital age.
jon
Pitblado Lectures Talk
On Friday November 6, 2015 I was honoured to be invited to be on a panel and give a talk at the Pitblado Lectures in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This 55th edition of the Pitblado Lectures was put on by the Law Society of Manitoba, The Manitoba Bar Association, and The University of Manitoba Faculty of Law (http://www.pitbladolectures.com/). This years theme was “From Blackacre to Blackberry: Redefining Property and Ownership”.
Attached are a set of post-final slides from my presentation as well as a short written piece. Thanks to Professors Doug Harris and Graham Reynolds of the Allard School of Law @UBC and Professor Katie Sykes of the TRU Faculty of Law for their comments on a draft of the latter.
Both the slides and the short writing take on the utility of defining virtual goods as property, particularly in a “Post I.P.” world effectively ruled by contracts. The slides also go on to explore the contradictions between patent law and copyright law which seem to favour innovators over creators for (IMHO) no particular or particularly good reason. Much of what you will see is consistent with things we have talked about in class but their recasting may prove useful to you in some way.
jon
Class 8 – 11/4/15: “From Wheelbarrows to Holodecks” & Steve Rechtshaffner
Video and slides.
jon
Class 7 – 10/28/15: “What’s it all about…EULA?” & Jim Alam/Rob Edgar
Video and slides follow…
jon
Check out theVideos of Interest to Law 423 on YouTube 
Communications Law
Join the Community!