Two Newly Tenured Faculty Members Increase Cardozo's Bandwidth in Intellectual Property and Information Law
Cardozo School of Law has granted tenure to two distinguished scholars in intellectual property, building on the school's renowned position as an innovative leader in IP and Information Law.
Felix Wu has been teaching at Cardozo Law for a number of years and is the faculty director of the Cardozo Data Law Initiative. He is an expert in information law and his doctorate in computer science is foundational to his information law scholarship, which spans freedom of speech, privacy law, and intellectual property law.
Professor Wu has organized numerous conferences at Cardozo, including the recent Cardozo TechTalks series focusing on U.S. and European approaches to surveillance law and government access to consumer data. His current work explores the relationship between data privacy and theories of free expression. He has previously written on the limits of online intermediary immunity and on understanding the role of data de-identification in law.
"One of the things I most treasure about Cardozo is my colleagues,” said Professor Wu. “I think their combination of intellect, collegiality and concern for students and this institution is unparalleled. I am very proud to be part of that community, and hope to do my part in continuing to build on all of these strengths.”
Christopher Buccafusco’s research uses social scientific methods to empirically study how laws affect creativity and innovation—and the intersection of happiness and the law, which is the subject of his recent book, Happiness and Law (University of Chicago Press), which considers research on what makes people happy and how they make decisions about their lives, as well as implications for administrative, criminal and civil laws. Professor Buccafusco received his JD from the University of Georgia School of Law and is eager to work with students interested in the fields of copyright and trademark law. “New York City is one of the world’s primary locations for these fields, and Cardozo attracts hundreds of brilliant students who want to make these subjects their career,” he said.
"Cardozo's Intellectual Property and Information Law Program is recognized as one of the very best in the nation, and we are delighted to welcome Chris Buccafusco to the team," said Dean Melanie Leslie. "Felix Wu has already made tremendous contributions here at the school, and his tenure is recognition by our faculty and the wider Yeshiva University of his superior scholarship and outstanding teaching skills."
Recently, Professor Wu's work has taken a close look at the effectiveness of algorithms, which are increasingly used in today’s world to predict everything from creditworthiness or the appropriateness of hiring a particular employee to whether an individual may be committing a crime and should be searched or stopped.
“Algorithms might work too well, perhaps accurately but unjustly reflecting real social disparities, or they might not work well enough, committing too many errors,” said Wu. “My project focuses on the ways in which algorithms might not work well enough, looking at how better algorithms might help to ameliorate some of these problems, but also examining how improving algorithms might come at the expense of other social values."
Using novel creativity experiments, Professor Buccafusco's research has shown that creators often do not behave the way that IP law assumes they will. His studies have explored how different kinds of incentives affect creativity, how creators think about borrowing from others' efforts, and how creators assign value to their innovations. The results of these studies challenge important aspects of IP law, and they suggest opportunities for improving the legal system and creative economies.
Contact:
John DeNatale
Assistant Dean, Communications and Public Affairs
Cardozo School of Law
212.790.0237
denatale@yu.edu