Contact: Janet Harvey Clark, MSU College of Law, (517) 432-6959; or Russ White, University Relations, (517) 432-0923, whiterus@msu.edu

5/12/2005

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Intellectual Property & Communications Law Program at Michigan State University College of Law is hosting the third Annual Chinese Internet Research Conference May 23-24 at the Law College Building on the MSU campus.

Titled “Digital Silk Road: A Look at the First Decade of China’s Internet Development and Beyond,” this interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars, policy analysts, industry leaders, journalists and legal practitioners from around the world to examine critically the first decade of Internet development in China. It also offers insight into China’s future development in the digital world and its evolving role in shaping the debate on information and communication technology and the global networked society.

“Since the mid-1990s, Internet population in China has grown from hundreds of thousands to more than 90 million,” said Peter Yu, founding director of the Intellectual Property & Communications Law Program at MSU and the event’s organizer. “Today, China boasts the world’s second largest online population, behind only the United States. Many people have examined the impact of the Internet on China. Very few people, however, have explored the impact of China on the Internet. This conference will address issues in both directions.”

The conference was co-founded two years ago by professors Yu, and Jack Linchuan Qiu of the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

In addition to Internet filtering and censorship, this year’s conference will address other legal and regulatory issues, electronic commerce, intellectual property, the social impact of informatization, e-government, online journalism, media propaganda, Internet Governance and future Internet development in Asia.

“This conference is the most significant gathering of analysts, academics and policymakers concerned with the development, regulation and the impact of the Internet on Chinese culture and society,” said Ang Peng Hwa, dean of the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University and a 1993 Ph.D. graduate of MSU. “We are proud to co-sponsor this event with MSU, as we believe that to truly understand one of the most remarkable modern developments in one of the world’s most dynamic nations, this conference cannot be missed.”

In addition to Nanyang Technological University, the conference is co-sponsored by the China Internet Project at the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University.

Chin-Chuan Lee, head of the Department of English and Communication at the City University of Hong Kong and professor emeritus of journalism and mass communication at the University of Minnesota, will deliver the keynote luncheon address on “New Media, Social Mobilization, and Political Control in China: Notes and Observations.”

The Intellectual Property & Communications Law Program at MSU College of Law focuses on the intersection of intellectual property and communications law.

Founded in fall 2003, this nationally ranked program boasts a full-time faculty of six distinguished scholars in intellectual property and communications law, international trade and sports law. It offers more than 25 courses in the field, a new master’s program in intellectual property and communications law for lawyers and non-lawyers and a first-year legal writing course focused on intellectual property, as well as joint academic programs with other MSU colleges, the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and Grand Valley State University.

MSU College of Law was founded as the Detroit College of Law in 1891. The college affiliated with MSU in 1995 and moved to MSU’s East Lansing campus in 1997. The move enabled the law college to build state-of-the-art facilities and to provide the benefits of a Big Ten campus. MSU College of Law strengthened its affiliation with MSU last year, becoming more closely aligned academically. The association between the two schools has led to a comprehensive interdisciplinary legal education program at the law college. Today, the college remains one of the nation’s oldest continually operating independent law schools and one of only two private law schools to be affiliated with a research university.

For information about the conference, contact the MSU Law Events Office at (517) 432-6955, or visit www.law.msu.edu/ipclp/silkroad/index.html