Mr Jonathan Griffiths, BA (Oxon) MA, Solicitor

Griffiths

Senior Lecturer

Location: Lincoln's Inn Fields
email: j.griffiths@qmul.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7882 8121

Jonathan Griffiths specialises in intellectual property law (particularly copyright law) and information law. He teaches intellectual property law, international and comparative copyright law and the law of torts.

He has published widely on comparative copyright law and on the relationship between intellectual property and human rights. With colleagues at the MPI for Intellectual Property & Competition Law, and other European copyright scholars, he was involved in directing a joint research project that culminated in Declaration on a Balanced Interpretation of the Three-Step Test in Copyright Law.

Jonathan Griffiths is a member of the advisory board of the Nottingham Law Journal and on the editorial board of The Journal of Media Law. He is an international contributing editor of the Media and Arts Law Review. He was a senior fellow at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne in 2008.

Recently, he has delivered the following papers:

  • Fundamental Rights in EU Copyright Law, ALAI Study Days 2011, Dublin, July 2011
  • ‘Recent Copyright Jurisprudence of the Court of Justice’, Academy of European Law (ERA) Annual European Copyright Law Conference, Brussels, May 2011  
  • ‘Intellectual Property and Fundamental Rights in Europe’, EIPIN Congress, European Parliament, Strasbourg, 24 February 2011
  • ‘Recapturing Liberated Information – Freedom of Information Regimes and Intellectual Property’, Centre for Commercial Law Studies 40th Anniversary Conference, Royal College of Surgeons, 3 November 2010
  • 'Having it Both Ways - Copyright's Property', British Academy/LCACE workshop on 'Copyright's Long History', Royal Society, London, 27 October 2010
  • 'The Three-Step Test - a Potentially Harmonising Formula?', Joint Workshop of the British Literary & Artistic Copyright Association & Intellectual Property Institute on 'European Copyright Reform', London, 14 October 2010.
  • 'Copyright Exceptions in the United Kingdom - Current Reforms', JASRAC Seminar, Waseda University, Tokyo, 2 October 2010
  • 'Towards a European Fair Use Doctrine', Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 30 September 2010

Publications:

A number of Jonathan Griffiths' publications are available on SSRN

  • ‘The United Kingdom’s public interest “defence” and European Union copyright law’ in G Westkamp & N Lee (ed), Intellectual Property & Publicity Rights (Edward Elgar, to be published 2012)
  • ‘Fundamental rights & European IP law’ in C Geiger (ed), Constructing European Intellectual Property (to be published Edward Elgar, 2012) (with L McDonagh)
  • ‘United Kingdom’ in R Hilty (ed), The Balance of Copyright, (to be published 2011)
  • ‘Criminal liability for intellectual property infringement in Europe – the impact of fundamental rights’ in C Geiger (ed), Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property; a Blessing or a Curse? (Edward Elgar, to be published 2011)
  • “Infopaq, BSA and the ‘Europeanisation’ of United Kingdom Copyright Law” [2011] Media & Arts Law Review
  • "Rhetoric and the 'Three-Step Test': Copyright Reform in the United Kingdom" [2010] EIPR 309
  • “Unsticking the Centre-Piece' the Liberation of European Copyright Law” (2010) 2 Journal of Intellectual Property, Information Technology & e-Commerce Law, 87
  • “Copyright's Imperfect Republic and the Artistic Commonwealth”,  in L Bently, J Davis & JC Ginsburg (eds) Copyright & Piracy: an Interdisciplinary Critique (Cambridge University Press, 2010)
  • “Copyright and Image Rights” in Carter-Ruck on Libel and Slander (ed A Mullis) (LexisNexis, 2010)
  • “The Inconvenience of Freedom of Expression in Trade Mark Law” in H Hansen (ed) Intellectual Property Law & Policy, Vol 11 (Hart Publishing, 2010)
  • “Copyright and Image Rights” in Carter-Ruck on Libel and Slander (ed A Mullis) (LexisNexis, 2010)
  • The ‘‘Three-Step Test’’ in European Copyright Law: Problems and Solutions [2009] IPQ 428
  • ‘Is there a Right to an Immoral Mark?’ in Intellectual Property & Human Rights, ed P Torremans (Kluwer, 2008)
  • 'Re-capturing Liberated Information - A Comparative Study of the Relationship between Freedom of Information Legislation and Private Law Restraints on Disclosure' in P Torremans (ed) Intellectual Property & Human Rights (Kluwer,  2008)
  • ‘Declaration on a Balanced Interpretation of the 'Three-Step Test In Copyright Law' (with Christophe Geiger and Reto Hilty) (2008) 39 IIC 707

Research interests:

Jonathan Griffiths is currently working on research projects concerning (1) the nature of the property interest in copyright law and (2) the “public interest” principle in intellectual property law.

Supervision:

Jonathan Griffiths welcomes proposals for postgraduate supervision in the area of information law, particularly copyright and related rights, freedom of expression and access to information. Currently, he has particular interests in EU and comparative copyright law.

Undergraduate teaching:

  • LAW6033 Intellectual Property Law

Postgraduate teaching:

  • QLLM040 - Intellectual Property
  • QLLM045 - International and Comparative Law of Copyright and Related Rights
  • IPLC008 – Designs & Copyright Law