Frederick Mostert's Inaugural Lecture - Free Speech and Internet Regulation

Abstract

Free speech has always been dependent on the healthy exchange of opinions on public forums, but shaping these forums to the challenging contours of today’s online world presents unique challenges. Social media platforms serve as the prime source of knowledge and human thought for many users and have taken on the identity of ‘the modern public square’, as noted by the US Federal Supreme Court. Governments have presented new regulatory proposals for privately-controlled platforms virtually overnight in contrast to their traditional hands-off approach to platform regulation. The Internet Safety Report in the UK, the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market and the US President’s Memorandum on Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods, and a slew of other regulatory proposals were produced within an extraordinarily short space of time. The lecture will suggest solutions to the inherent conflict between free speech and regulation on the internet by analysing digital due process in cyberspace.

Speaker Biography

Frederick is Professor of Practice at The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College, London, a Research Fellow at the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre, University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He is the founder of the Digital Scholarship Institute and Digital Communities Lab. He was inducted into the Intellectual Property Hall of Fame in 2015, which honours those who have helped to establish intellectual property as one of the key business assets of the 21st century.

Frederick is principal author and editor of Famous and Well-known Marks – An International Analysis. He is also the author of numerous articles and other publications, including From Edison to iPod – Protect Your Ideas. His op-eds have appeared in the Financial Times and the South China Morning Post. He is consulted by news organisations and his publications have been cited by courts throughout the world.

Frederick is Past President of the International Trademark Association and currently the President of the Luxury Law Alliance. Frederick served as Chief Intellectual Property Counsel and Chief Legal Counsel of luxury group Richemont, which includes Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Alfred Dunhill, and Chloé.