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Join us for an AI and the Law talk with鈥疨rof. Giuseppina (Pina) D鈥橝gostino, who will explore the renewed and alarming challenges that AI 鈥� especially GenerativeAI 鈥搖shers for the copyright protection of freelance authors.听

Abstract听

Recycling existing copyright-protected works in new media is an age-old recurrence, which continues to challenge copyright law and its future on a global scale. Each time a new technology enjoys wide-spread adoption there is a new way to re-introduce or recycle an existing work. The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), and specifically GenerativeAI, has ushered in renewed and alarming challenges. This talk will shine the spotlight on freelance authors, who across the world have challenged publishers鈥� continued exploitation of their works in new media, traditionally in print. Has copyright law been effective to deal with this ongoing copyright contracting issue, relevant across creative industries?听 The copyright treatment of freelance work on national and international levels has been inadequate to resolve ambiguities in the copyright contracting of new uses of existing works. Historically, authors鈥� works became the property of publishers that would in turn exploit these for all they are worth. Copyright law has been 鈥揳nd continues to be 鈥� a publisher鈥檚 and not an author鈥檚 right. But significantly, nineteenth-century copyright was more sympathetic to authors and had some notable restrictions in place to contain freedom of contract. This is no longer the case as freedom of contract prevails. The stakes are much higher with big tech companies now dependent on 鈥渃ontent鈥� to feed their GenerativeAI platforms, further undermining creators (and ironically publishers). If society is to embrace the full benefits of AI and given the continuing imbalanced bargaining between authors and bigger players, and the lack of express and adequate legislation worldwide, a fairer, transparent and more ethical approach to copyright protection is necessary.听

About the speaker听

Prof Pina D鈥橝gostino is a law professor, lawyer, public speaker, board director and internationally-recognized scholar at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University specializing in copyright law, intellectual property (IP), emerging technologies, innovation law and policy.听 She joined Osgoode Hall in 2006 and is regularly called by Canadian and international governments for advice, has testified before the Canadian Parliament, is a widely published author, regularly serves as a consultant and expert witness and is a cited authority at the Supreme Court of Canada and in various media. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the Intellectual Property Journal and in 2022 has been recognized as the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer Magazine and Top 5 in Business Law and in 2024 she is the recipient of Woman of the Year from the Canadian Italian Business Professional Association (CIBPA).听

Dr D鈥橝gostino brings her creativity and passion to trailblaze new initiatives and to serve in new roles as the overall Director of the $318M CFREF-funded Connected Minds: Neural & Machine Systems for a Healthy, Just Society; co-Founder and co-Director of the new Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Society (CAIS) for York University; Founding Director of IP Osgoode and the award-winning IPilogue, Founder & Director of the IP Intensive and the IP Innovation Clinic, the first and largest and first legal clinic of its kind helping inventors and start-ups in Ontario and across Canada commercialize their IP and, more recently, founded the AI-powered IP Innovation ChatBot allowing underrepresented groups and the general public greater access to IP information.听听

She began her legal career at a large Toronto law firm, was a Lecturer in Law at the University of Oxford, and was later recruited into the Canadian Government by the Recruitment of Policy Leaders (RPL) as a Senior Policy Analyst working on copyright policy. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) and Alectra Inc. and is the founding Chair of its GRE&T Centre Advisory Committee advancing innovation and sustainable energy solutions. She held an Order in Council Appointment at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection where she served on its Board of Directors, and currently sits on its Art Advisory Committee.听听

Dr D鈥橝gostino served as an IP expert to Canada鈥檚 First Nations Information Governance Centre (FNIGC) and served as the co-chair of the York University AI & Society Task Force culminating in the Fostering the Future of Artificial Intelligence report, was appointed to the City of Vaughan Smart City Task Force and is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). She spent her last sabbatical as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. Dr D鈥橝gostino is the recipient of various government and tri-council grants, honours and awards and is currently working on the second edition of Copyright Law (with Prof David Vaver, Irwin Law). Her peer-reviewed articles and her three books Copyright, Contract, Creators: New Media, New Rules, The Common Law of Intellectual Property: Essays in Honour of Professor David Vaver and Leading Legal Disruption: Artificial Intelligence and a Toolkit for Lawyers and the Law are widely available.听

She holds a MSt and DPhil (University of Oxford) with distinction in copyright law, an LLB (Osgoode Hall Law School), an HonBA, summa cum laude, in English and Political Science and a specialization in French (York University), holds an ICD.D from the Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto) and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario (2001 call).听

AI and the Law Series听

The AI and the Law Series is hosted by the Montreal Cyberjustice Laboratory, and the Private Justice and the Rule of Law Research Group. We would like to thank our sponsors: the Autonomy Through Cyberjustice Technologies and AI Project, and the 91社区 Student Collective on Technology and Law.听