Past Seminars

This seminar offers a framework for analyzing how law and computing intersect–not in isolation, but through institutional routines that authorize action, construct knowledge, and structure legitimacy.

Con Diaz is Professor and Chair of the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the University of California, Davis, and an inaugural editor of Studies in Computing and Culture.

The seminar recording will be publicly available at a later date. Please see here for more information and check back for further updates.

Proprietary claims over seeds, crops, agricultural methods, and culinary knowledge exist as important forms of biocultural heritage in socioecological initiatives. These novel proprietary claims, exist inside, outside, and often alongside conventional intellectual property vehicles. Drawing from earlier research focused on Andean Community member states, this seminar considers examples from China, the Philippines, and Nepal of how biocultural heritage territories are designated, agroecology principles are asserted, biocultural goods are made and marketed, and agritourism initiatives promoted.

Rosemary J. Coombe is a Full Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Social Science. Dr David J Jefferson (he/him) is an Associate Professor at the University of Canterbury Faculty of Law, where he teaches Environmental Law, Land Law, and Intellectual Property.

See here for the recording.

What comes after ‘Patent Republic’? Patent law justifications are closely embedded in a particular model of government and rhetorically project its values. Building on Biagioli’s 2006 article on ‘Patent Republic’, the talk considers what kind of polity patent law will reflect, justify, and promote when republicanism and democracy are in retreat.

Hyo Yoon Kang is Reader/Associate Professor in Law at Warwick Law School where she teaches intellectual property law. See hyoyoonkang.com for more information.

See here for the recording.