Privacy and Personality Rights in Comparative Perspective - Conference

A one-day conference to be chaired by Rt. Hon. Sir Robin Jacob, Lord Justice of Appeal.

Presentations will cover:

Developments in the Common Law of Privacy

Personality Rights Under German and French Law

Rights of Personality in the British Commonwealth

Personality Rights: European Convergence

Personality, Privacy Rights and Freedom of Expression

FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.11 FEBRUARY 2006, 10.00 am – 5.30 pm.

Sponsored by Schillings, Field Fisher Waterhouse,

Cambridge University Press, and the Herchel Smith Intellectual Property Research Fund, Emmanuel College

This conference has been accredited by the Law Society and the Bar Council with 5.5 CPD hours.

PRIVACY AND PERSONALITY RIGHTS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE

The nature and extent to which UK law recognises a person’s right to ‘private life’ has been widely debated by the courts and commentators following the Human Rights Act 1998. In parallel, the English courts are showing an increased willingness to protect celebrities against the unauthorised use of their images through the law of passing off.



Elsewhere in Europe, and beyond, important developments have occurred in relation to the protection of privacy and personality which are interesting from theoretical and comparative perspectives. It is also critically important, at a practical level, to appreciate the differences in substantive protection, given the cross-border nature of modern advertising and merchandising campaigns.



This one-day Conference, which should be of interest both to academic lawyers and practitioners, brings together leading experts on privacy and intellectual property to examine the extent to which the legal approaches and solutions of different jurisdictions are converging.



The Conference coincides with the launch of the latest volume in the Cambridge Studies in Intellectual Property Rights series: Privacy, Property and Personality (Cambridge: CUP 2005).

Confirmed speakers include:

• Dr Huw Beverley-Smith, Solicitor, Field, Fisher Waterhouse, author of The Commercial Appropriation of Personality (Cambridge: CUP, 2002);
• Siobhain Butterworth, Legal Director, Guardian Newspapers Limited;
• Professor Michael Madow, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School, author of "Private Ownership of Public Image: Popular Culture and Publicity Rights" (1993) California Law Review, a leading work on rights of publicity in the US;
• Professor Ansgar Ohly, Professor of Intellectual Property and Civil Law, University of Bayreuth, counsel for the German Government in von Hannover v. Germany (ECHR);
• Dr PAscal Kamina, Professor at the University of Poitiers and Attorney at Law of the PAris Bar.  Author of Film Copyright in the European Union. (Cambridge: CUP, 2002)
• Gavin Phillipson, King’s College, London, author of several leading articles on English law of privacy widely cited in the Court of Appeal and House of Lords;
• Keith Schilling, Senior Partner, Schillings, London
• Professor David Vaver, Professor of Intellectual Property & IT Law, University of Oxford, and Director, Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre, St Peter’s College, Oxford

Draft Programme

• 1000 - 1030 Registration and Coffee
• 1030 Introduction by Lord Justice Jacob, Chairman
• 1040 - 1100 Lecture 1 United Kingdom
• 1110 - 1130 Lecture 2 France
• 1140 - 1200 Lecture 3 Germany
• 1210 - 1230 Lecture 4 European Convention on Human Rights

       1245 Buffet Lunch

• 1400 - 1420 Lecture 5 The Commonwealth
• 1430 - 1510 Lecture 6 United States
• 1520 - 1550 Lecture 7 European Convergence

       1600 Refreshments

• 1615 - 1635 Freedom of Expression in the Media
  
• 1640 - 1730 Round Table Discussions
• 1730 Final Comments from Chairman and Conclusion