Speakers:

Prof. Annette Kur (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich)

Prof. Anna Tischner (Jagiellonian University, Krakow)

Prof. Nari Lee (Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki)

Chair: Prof. Christophe Geiger (Director of ILEO, Luiss Guido Carli)

Date and Time: February 17, 2025, 4:00 PM.

Room: Classroom 19 - Via Parenzo

Link: https://luiss.webex.com/luiss/j.php?MTID=mca5a256c242c40c38f6427f2590ef0fb
 

In their presentation, Professors Annette Kur, Anna Tischner, and Nari Lee will discuss their latest book, “Fairness In Intellectual Property Law-Searching for a Uniform Concept.”

We warmly invite all ILEO members, the broader academic community, and students to join this event and contribute to this enriching exchange.

In-person participation requires registration. To register, please contact: ileo@luiss.it

Abstract

Intellectual property (IP) law, in its current form, provides a robust tool for navigating the seminal changes in technology, communication, and trade that have unfolded in recent decades. However, the suitability of IP for that purpose has drawn criticism for extending its nineteenth-century, property-oriented paradigm to novel situations and subject matter for which it is unfit. The book suggests that the concept of “fairness” should be embraced. In line with that goal, the book strives to further the understanding and improve the operation of “fairness” as a legal notion, so that it fulfills the role of mediator between the property aspects of IP, market regulation, and general welfare. During this presentation, each author will focus on selected chapters from the book. Professor Kur, the book's lead author, will present Chapter 5, which focuses on the concept of fairness and fundamental rights. Prof. Tischner will discuss the systematic application of the notion of fairness, which the book develops to design law in chapter 10. Finally, Prof. Lee will discuss the concept of fairness inter partes presented in Chapter 11.

The publication is available in Open Access: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800883062
 
 

Program

4:00 PM – 4:10 PM Chair and introduction

Christophe Geiger, Professor of Law and Director of the Innovation Law and Ethics Observatory, Luiss, Rome

4:10 PM – 4:50 PM

“Fairness in Intellectual Property Law: Searching for a Uniform Concept”

Annette Kur, Affiliated Research Fellow in Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Innovation and Competition, Munich

Anna Tischner, Professor of Law, Jagiellonian University, Kraków

Nari Lee, Professor of Law and Deputy Director of the IPR University Center, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki

4:50 PM – 5:15 PM Discussion
 
 

About the Speakers:

Prof. Annette Kur

Affiliated Research Fellow in Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Max Planck Institute (MPI), Munich
Email: annette.kur@ip.mpg.de

Annette Kur held a tenured position as a senior member of the research staff and Head of Unit at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Competition and Innovation until her retirement in 2015, and continues to work as an affiliated fellow at the MPI. She is also an honorary professor at the University of Munich (LMU) and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Stockholm and the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki. She is the author of books and numerous articles in the fields of national, European, and international trademark law, unfair competition law, and industrial design law, as well as international jurisdiction and choice of law.

CV: https://www.ip.mpg.de/en/persons/kur-annette.html
 

Prof. Anna Tischner

Professor of Law, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

Email: anna.tischner@uj.edu.pl

Anna Tischner is a law professor in the Intellectual Property Law Department at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She holds a PhD and habilitation from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Anna’s main academic interests lie in industrial property law and unfair competition law. Her research focuses on EU design and trademark protection, IPR overlaps, and green IP. Anna has been a member of ATRIP since 2009 and served on the ATRIP Executive Committee from 2016 to 2022.

<p >Her recent publications in English include the monograph (co-authored with Annette Kur and Nari Lee); Fairness in Intellectual Property Law, chapters and articles: Lost in communication. A few thoughts on the object and purpose of the EU design protection in The Object and Purpose of Intellectual Property, ed. Frankel, Edward Elgar 2019; “Chopping off Hydra’s heads. Spare parts in the EU design and trademark law in Transition and Coherence in Intellectual Property Law. Essays in Honor of Annette Kur, ed. Bruun, Dinwoodie, Levin, Ohly, Cambridge 2020; Design Rights and Designer’s Rights in Research Handbook on Design Law (ed. Hartwig), Edward Elgar 2021; Designing for the European Green Deal - a supplementary protection regime for circular designs in the EU in Design Law Global Law and Practice, ed. Beldiman (co-authors Beldiman Dana and Teilmann-Lock Stina), Edward Elgar 2024; Spare Parts, Repairs, Trade Marks and Consumer Understanding (co-author Stasiuk Katarzyna), IIC 2023; Spare Parts and Design Protection – Different Approaches to a Common Problem. Recent Developments from the EU and US Perspective, GRUR International 2020 (co-authors Dana Beldiman and Constantin Blanke-Roeser).
 

Prof. Nari Lee

Professor of Law and Deputy Director of the IPR University Center, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki

Email: nari.lee@hanken.fi

Nari Lee is the intellectual property professor at Hanken School of Economics and the deputy director of the IPR University Center. She joined the Hanken faculty in 2012. She studied law at Ewha Womans University in Korea and at Kyushu University in Japan (LL.M), and holds a PhD from the University of Eastern Finland and a Doctor of Laws (LL.D) degree from Kyushu University in Japan. Since 1996, she has conducted research and taught in the fields of intellectual property and international trade at universities across Europe, Asia, and the United States. Her research experience includes positions as an affiliated research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition in Munich, Germany (2012–2014), a Research Visitor at the University of Cambridge (2016), and a Senior Global Hauser Fellow at New York University (NYU) Law School (2017). In the spring of 2019, she served as a Designated Professor at the Center for Asian Legal Exchange at Nagoya University, Japan, and during the spring and summer of 2019, she was a Research Visitor at the Center for IP and Information Law (University of Cambridge).

CV: https://harisportal.hanken.fi/en/persons/nari-lee/publications/