Professor Haochen Sun
DEPARTMENT OF LAW
Professor
LL.B., Zhejiang University Guanghua Law School
LL.M., National University of Singapore Faculty of Law
LL.M., Harvard Law School
S.J.D., Duke University School of Law
Biography
Haochen Sun specializes in intellectual property, technology law, and Chinese law. His wide-ranging, interdisciplinary scholarship has explored a variety of cutting-edge areas in law and technology, ranging from the legal status of artificial intelligence creations to access to patented medicines and vaccines, IP rights owners’ responsibilities, and the trademark protection of luxury brands. In his latest research projects, he is developing a new approach to regulating social media algorithms and rethinking the epic transformations that have occurred in China’s intellectual property system.
Haochen’s monograph Technology and the Public Interest, published by Cambridge University Press in 2022, puts forward a new theoretical approach to protecting the right to technology and enforcing technology companies’ fundamental responsibilities. He has also worked on five edited volumes, each of which brings forth new research areas in intellectual property and technology law. For instance, The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property (Oxford University Press, 2015) pioneers the study of intellectual property protection for luxury goods, and Intellectual Property, COVID-19, and the Next Pandemic: Diagnosing Problems, Developing Cures (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2023) presents lessons learned about intellectual property during the COVID-19 pandemic and makes recommendations for retooling intellectual property to better prepare the world for the next pandemic.
An author of over 40 articles and book chapters, Haochen is the winner of a number of research output prizes and major research grants and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. and Law, Technology, and Humans. He previously served as Director of the Law and Technology Center and LLM Program in Technology and Intellectual Property Law at the HKU Faculty of Law, and has organized numerous international conferences on intellectual property and technology law. Haochen has also delivered public lectures at leading law schools in Asia, Europe, and North America, and has taught intellectual property courses at the University of California Davis School of Law and University of North Carolina School of Law as a Visiting Professor. He will serve as a Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School in spring 2023.
Haochen has advised leading law firms and companies in the entertainment, information technology, and luxury and fashion sectors on matters relating to intellectual property protection. His opinions about intellectual property and technology law have also appeared in a variety of media outlets, including BBC News, Forbes, Lianhe Zaobao, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, South China Morning Post, Ming Pao, The Wall Street Journal, Shenzhen Satellite TV, and Radio Television Hong Kong.
Research Areas
- Intellectual Property Law
- Technology Law
- Chinese Law
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Selected publications
Books:
Technology and the Public Interest (Cambridge University Press, 2022)
Intellectual Property, COVID-19, and the Next Pandemic: Diagnosing Problems, Developing Cures (co-editing with Madhavi Sunder eds., Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2023)
Digital Sovereignty (Anupam Chander and Haochen eds., Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2023)
Charting Limitations on Trademark Rights (Haochen Sun and Barton Beebe eds., Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2023)
The Cambridge Handbook of Copyright Limitations and Exceptions in Comparative Perspective (Shyamkrishna Balganesh, Wee Loon Ng-Loy and Haochen Sun eds., Cambridge University Press, 2021)
The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property: Critical Reflections (Haochen Sun, Barton Beebe and Madhavi Sunder eds., Oxford University Press, 2015)
Articles and Essays:
“Intellectual Property and ‘The Lost Year’ of COVID-19 Deaths,” 64 Harvard International Law Journal Online (forthcoming 2023) (co-authored with Madhavi Sunder)
“Regulating Algorithmic Disinformation,” 46 Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts (forthcoming 2023)
“Artificial Intelligence Inventions,” 50 Florida State University Law Review 61-121 (2023)
“Patent Philanthropy,” 54 Cornell Journal of International Law 101-157 (2022)
“Sovereignty 2.0,” 55 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 283-324 (2022) (co-authored with Anupam Chander) [Download]
“Redesigning Copyright Protection in the Era of Artificial Intelligence,” 107 Iowa Law Review 1213-1251 (2022) [Download]
“Protecting the Public Interest through Intellectual Property Law: The Creative Approach of Chinese Judges,” 31 Minnesota Journal of International Law 185-231 (Spring 2022)
“Tech Wars and the Conflict of Public Interests,” 5 Georgetown Law Technology Review 61-110 (2021) (co-authored with Peter Wat)
“Patent Responsibility,” 17 Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties 321 (2021) [Download]
“Bridging the Digital Chasm through the Fundamental Right to Technology,” 28 Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy 75 (2020) [Download]
“Higher Education as a Luxury Good,” 17 New York University Journal of Law & Business 153 (2020) [Download]
“Corporate Fundamental Responsibility: What do Technology Companies Owe the World?” 74 University of Miami Law Review 898-963 (2020) [Download]
“Reinvigorating the Human Right to Technology,” 41 Michigan Journal of International Law 279-326 (2020) [Download]
“The Fundamental Right to Technology,” 47 Hofstra Law Review 445-481 (2020) [Download]
“Copyright Law as an Engine of Public Interest Protection,” 16 Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property 123–188 (2019) [Download]
“Statement of Public Interest Principles for Copyright Protection under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP),” 48 International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law 334–337 (2017) [Download]
“Hermès in the Lost (Luxury) Paradise: How to Secure Enhanced Well-Known Trade Mark Protection in China,” 38 European Intellectual Property Review 101-108 (2016)
“Reforming Anti-Dilution Protection in the Globalization of Luxury Brands,” 45 Georgetown Journal of International Law 783-823 (2014) [Download]
“The Distinctiveness of a Fashion Monopoly,” 3 New York University Journal of Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law 142-196 (2013) [Download]
“Living Together in One Civilized World: How Luxury Companies and Consumers Can Fulfill Their Ethical Responsibilities to the Poor,” 46 UC Davis Law Review 547-579 (2013) [Download]
“Copyright and Responsibility,” 4 Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law263-317 (2013) [Download]
“Can Louis Vuitton Dance with HiPhone? Rethinking the Idea of Social Justice in Intellectual Property Law,” 15 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law & Social Change 387 (2012) [Download]
“Fair Use as a Collective User Right,” 90 North Carolina Law Review 125-202 (2011) [Download]
“Toward a New Social-Political Theory of the Public Trust Doctrine,” 35 Vermont Law
Review 563-622 (2011) [Download]
“Designing Journeys to the Social World: Hegel’s Theory of Property and His Noble Dreams Revisited,” 6 Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy33-59 (2010) [Download]
“Overcoming the Achilles Heel of Copyright Law,” 5 Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property 265-331 (2007) [Download]
“Reconstructing Reproduction Right Protection in China,” 53 Journal of the Copyright Society of the USA 223 (2006)
“The Road to Doha and Beyond: Some Reflections on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health,” 15 European Journal of International Law 123 (2004)
Book Chapters:
“Elite Universities as Luxury Brands” in Academic Brands: Distinction in Global Higher Education (Mario Biagioli and Madhavi Sunder eds., Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2021)
“Building a Robust Trademark Fair Use Mechanism in China” in Charting Limitations on Trademark Rights (Barton Beebe and Haochen Sun eds., Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2021)
“Creating a Public Interest Principle for the Adjudication of Fair Use and Fair Dealing Cases,” The Cambridge Handbook of Copyright Limitations and Exceptions in Comparative Perspective (Shyamkrishna Balganesh, Wee Loon Ng-Loy and Haochen Sun eds., Cambridge University Press, forthcoming Fall 2020)
“Liberalizing Use of the Three-Step Test and Copyright Limitations in the Public Interest,” in The Future of Asian Trade Deals and Intellectual Property 275–93 (Kung-Chung Liu and Julien Chaisse eds., Hart Publishing, 2019)
“Protecting Non-Traditional Trademarks in China: New Opportunities and Challenges,” in The Protection of Non-Traditional Marks: Critical Perspectives 185–200 (Irene Calboli and Martin Senftleben eds., Oxford University Press, 2019)
“The Scope of the Fair Use Doctrine and its Public Interest Mandate under Chinese Copyright Law, in Annotated Leading Copyright Cases in Major Asian Jurisdictions 257-268 (Kung-Chung Liu ed., City University of Hong Kong Press, 2019) (co-authored with Johnny Xuyang Han)
“Criteria for Using Standard Essential Patents Legally,” in Annotated Leading Patent Cases in Major Asian Jurisdictions 206-216 (Kung-Chung Liu ed., City University of Hong Kong Press, 2017)
“Entertainment Utopia Through Compulsory Licensing and Network Neutrality,” in Remuneration of Copyright Owners: Regulatory Challenges of New Business Models 279–291 (Kung-Chung Liu and Reto M. Hilty eds., Springer, 2017)
“Luxury Brands and Cultural Diversity: The Role of Trademark Law,” in Diversity in Intellectual Property: Identities, Interests, and Intersections 426–452 (Irene Calboli and Srividhya Ragavan eds., Cambridge University Press, 2015)
“Anti-Dilution Protection of Luxury Brands in the Global Economy,” in Research Handbook on International Intellectual Property Law 407–432 (Daniel J. Gervais ed., Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015)
“The Ethical Responsibilities of Luxury Companies and Consumers,” in The Luxury Economy and Intellectual Property: Critical Reflections 225–247 (Haochen Sun, Barton Beebe and Madhavi Sunder eds., Oxford University Press, 2015)