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Professor Gary Rinkerman

Gary

Honorary Professor - US Intellectual Property Law

Profile

Honorary Professor at Queen Mary University of London Intellectual Property Research Institute. Subjects: For More than a decade: Full course on U.S. intellectual property law, contracts and transactions, management of Intellectual Property assets, digital rights and privacy, historical roots of systems for encouragement and  protection of creative and innovative activities.  For the last two years – additional teaching: co-professor in course on EU, British, and US design protection laws; for the last four years: guest lecturer on US trademark and unfair competition law.

Postgraduate Teaching

Past: Annual guest lecturer on Intellectual Property Management  for the MS Technology Management Program at George Mason University (Judge at CAPSTONE annual academic excellence competition).  Subjects:  intellectual property species, management approaches and transactions.

Regular Lecturer at EIPIN Annual Congress (EIPIN is the European Intellectual Property Institutes Network. It includes the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI); University of Strasbourg, France, Magister Lvcentinvs; University of Alicante, Spain; Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, London; Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC), LLM Program; Intellectual Property Law and Knowledge Management (IPKM), Masstricht University.) Subjects: Contemporary issues in U.S. intellectual property law. 

Research

Research Interests:

Current projects

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of authorship under US copyright law and guild agreements (e.g., SAG-AFTRA); AI in the context of inventorship under US patent law; fair use issues raised by AI training methods and materials; trade secret issues raised by use of AI systems;  corporate governance and disclosures of AI uses in investment solicitations; licensing terms in AI-related intellectual property and privacy agreement terms.   

Publications

Representative Text and Class & Lecture Materials:

  • Class Materials: Updated Survey of U.S. Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition  Law  (Queen Mary University of London, 2001 to present).
  • Lecture Materials: Intellectual Property Rights in the Video Game Industry (Queen Mary University of London, 2017).
  • Lecture Materials: Intellectual Property Rights in Data (EIPIN, 2016).
  • Lecture Materials: Legal Issues Affecting Big Data, Data Analytics, And Data Driven Business Models & Transactions (NYU 2015).
  • Lecture Materials: The History & Future of U.S. Rights of Publicity (From Edison to Elvis to Paris and Every 15 Minutes In Between) (Munich Intellectual Property Law Center 2015).
  • Panel Debate Materials: Patent Enforcement Entities:  Issues, Responses & Reform  (GMU 2014).

Representative Articles:

  • The October 30, 2023 Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence: Is It Making Your Intellectual Property More Secure? George Mason Center For Assurance Research and Engineering (2023).
  • Artificial Intelligence and Evolving Issues Under U.S. Copyright and Patent Law, Center For Assurance Research and Engineering (2023).
  • Sampling Unleashed? Migrating Visual Art Fair Use Principles Into The Music Space (Social Science Research Network) (2014).
  • Rights of Publicity in the United States ~ From Edison to Elvis and Paris (And Every 15 Minutes In-Between), Chapter 5, Intellectual Property, Unfair Competition and Publicity, Convergences and Development, Edward Elgar Publishing (2014).
  • Looking Beyond the Google Book Settlement; Chapter 8 of a textbook edited by Aurelio Lopez-Tarruella (University of Alicante 2011).

Public Engagement

Speaking engagements (personal and Zoom) as Senior Fellow at George Mason University’s Center for Assurance Research and Engineering including  Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of authorship under US copyright law and guild agreements (e.g., SAG-AFTRA); AI in the context of inventorship under US patent law; fair use issues raised by AI training methods and materials; trade secret issues raised by use of AI systems;  corporate governamce and disclosures of AI uses in investment solicitaitons; licensing terms in AI-related intellectual property and privacy agreement terms.  

Ancillary:  Annual two-day presentation on US Civil War History (focused on the Oct. 19, 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek) for the Cedar Creel Battlefield Foundation (audience of several thousand); presentation on vintage US baseball (under 1864 Rules) for the Cedar Creel Battlefield Foundation. 

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