HKCML (CityUHK) AI Theme Conference: “Comparative Perspectives on AI and Copyright Law: Evaluating Hong Kong’s Policy Responses in the AI Era”
On December 12, 2024, the Hong Kong Commercial and Maritime Law Centre organized a conference entitled “Comparative Perspectives on AI and Copyright Law: Evaluating Hong Kong’s Policy Responses in the AI Era” The conference lasted for two days, and the current regulatory difficulties on copyright law and AI issues were deeply discussed.
This conference aims to explore how the legal regulation can keep pace with the latest AI development. The whole conference includes two sessions: The first session focused on Copyright Ordinance HK. The second one is more academic oriented, and several speeches brought cutting-edge views.
On the afternoon of the first day, as the representation of the School of Law of City University, Prof. Lin Feng gave welcome speech to express his sincere welcome to all the participants. Afterward, Prof. Chen Yang and Prof. He Tianxiang, as the convenors of this event, delivered their expectation of the valuable insights.
The first session moderated by Prof. Chen Yang brought some targeted discussions with governmental officials from the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) in Hong Kong. At the beginning, Ms. Sandra Hui, Assistant Director of Intellectual Property (Copyright), shared the basic information about the consultation paper including the purpose, background, and details and updated some latest HK policy. After that, Mr. Alan Chiu from Managing Partner, ELLALAN, Hong Kong, gave the practical views as a representative of the legal practice. Mr. Hideaki Shimada, the Head of the HK JETO IP Department, provided an introduction to the laws and policies regarding AI and copyright issues in Japan. Following that, relevant scholars expressed their unique and valuable insights on the relevant issues especially for the consultation paper. Participants in the discussion included scholars from the Mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, and so on. The conference gained a lot of diversified perspectives.
The second session was divided into two panels. Hosted by Prof. Yahong Li, panel 1 was about AI, Authorship, and Justice. Prof. Chen Yang first delivered a speech on Reviving “Computer-Generated Works”: Should Hong Kong Copyright Law Adapt the Rule to Harness AI Opportunities? Then Prof. Orabhund Panuspatthna gave a speech on Non-human Creator in the Aspect of Thai Copyright Act. The last speaker was Prof. Rostam J. Neuwirth, whose topic was Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Law: Is ‘Distributive Justice’ an Oxymoron in the Experience Economy? Next, with the completion of the Q&A part, the first day of the meeting was successfully completed.
With the theme of AI, Copyright Infringement, and Exceptions, Panel session 2 was held on the morning of the second day. As the moderator of this panel, Prof. Jyh-An Lee first welcomed Prof. Peter Yu to give his speech on The Red Herrings in Legislative Reform on Copyright and AI Training. Second, Prof. Daryl Lim from Penn State Dickinson Law conducted an online presentation with the theme of Banana Republic. The next speaker was Mr. Jiawei Zhang, whose topic was Towards LLM-Friendly Fair Use and Fair-Use-Aligned LLMs. Last, Prof. Taorui Guan gave a speech on From Safe Harbors to AI Harbors: Reimagining DMCA Immunity for the Generative AI Era. The Q&A part then began, with participants engaging in in-depth discussions on various cutting-edge issues.
The closing remark was delivered by Prof. Chen Yang and Prof. He Tianxiang. They expressed their sincere gratitude to the scholars who delivered wonderful speeches and to the conference organizers. At this point, the conference ended successfully in a warm atmosphere!
In addition to the aforementioned participants, special thanks are also extended to those who shared valuable insights during the roundtable discussion:
Prof. Guobin Cui, Tsinghua University,
Prof. Taorui Guan, University of Hong Kong,
Prof. Tianxiang He, CityUHK,
Prof. Jyh-An Lee, Chinese University of Hong Kong,
Prof. Yahong Li, University of Hong Kong,
Prof. Jesse Lu, NCCU,
Prof. Rostam J. Neuwirth, University of Macau,
Prof. Orabhund Panuspatthna, Chulalongkorn University,
Prof. Peter Yu, Texas A&M University,
and Mr. Jiawei Zhang, TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology.
Authors: GAO Lingjun (PhD Candidate) & ZHANG Yiyan (PhD Candidate)
2024年12月12日，香港城市大學香港商務及海事法研究中心舉辦了一場名為 “比較法視野下的人工智能與版權法：評估香港對人工智能時代的政策回應”為主題的會議，會議為期兩天，深入探討了當前著作權法的監管難點和人工智能問題。
本次會議旨在探討法律規範如何跟上人工智能的最新發展。整個會議包括兩個單元： 第一部分以《香港版權條例》為主題。第二部分更偏向於學術性，多位講者帶來了前沿的觀點。
第一天下午，林峰教授作為城市大學法學院的代表致歡迎辭，對所有與會者表示衷心的歡迎。隨後，陳揚教授和何天翔教授作為本次活動的召集人，表達了他們對與會者發表獨特見解的期待。
陳揚教授主持的第一個環節與香港知識產權署（IPD）的政府官員進行了有針對性的討論。首先，知識產權署助理署長（版權）許麗珊女士分享了諮詢文件的基本資料，包括目的、背景和細節，並更新了一些最新的香港政策。之後，香港ELLALAN律師事務所主管合夥人趙之威先生代表業界發表了實務性的意見。日本贸易振兴机构（香港）知识产权部门负责人Hideaki Shimada 先生介紹了日本有關人工智能和版權問題的法律和政策。隨後，學者就相關問題，特別是諮詢文件發表了獨特而寶貴的見解。參與開放討論的學者來自內地、香港、澳門、台灣、日本及泰國等地，會議因此收穫了更加多元化的觀點。
第二場分為兩場專題討論。第一場由李亞虹教授主持，主題為人工智能、作者權與正義。陳揚教授首先發表了題為「復興『計算機生成作品』：香港版權法應否調整規則以把握人工智能的機遇？」的演講。然後，Orabhund Panuspatthna 教授以「泰國著作權法中的非人類創作者」為題發表演講。最後一位講者是 Rostam J. Neuwirth 教授，他的主題是：「人工智慧與智慧財產法： 在體驗經濟中，『分配正義』是個矛盾修辭嗎？ 」接下來，隨著問答部分的結束，第一天的會議也圓滿結束。
以人工智能、侵權及其例外為主題的討論於第二天上午進行。李治安教授作為主持人先歡迎了到場的各位。當日的第一位講者余家明教授發表了題為「版權與 AI 訓練立法改革中的紅色陷阱」的演講。其次，Daryl Lim 教授進行了以 「香蕉共和國」 為主題的線上演講。接下來，張珈玮先生的演講主題是：「迈向『LLM友好型』合理使用和『与合理使用对齐』的LLM」。最後，關韜睿教授的演講題目為「從安全港到 AI 港：為生成式人工智能時代重新構思 DMCA 豁免」。隨後進入問答環節，與會者就各種前沿問題進行了深入討論。
在對主題充分討論後，陳揚教授和何天翔教授分別致閉幕辭。他們對發表精彩演講的學者和會議主辦方表示衷心的感謝。至此，本次會議在熱烈的氣氛中圓滿結束！
除了上述參與者之外，還要特別感謝在圓桌討論中分享寶貴見解的各位：
崔國斌教授，清華大學
關韜睿教授，香港大學
何天翔教授，香港城市大學
李治安教授，香港中文大學
李亞虹教授，香港大學
盧建誌教授，政治大學
Rostam J. Neuwirth 教授，澳門大學
Orabhund Panuspatthna 教授，朱拉隆功大學
余家明教授, 德州農工大學
張珈瑋先生，慕尼黑工業大學社會科學與技術學院
作者：高凌珺（博士候選人）& 張藝嚴（博士候選人）