João is Associate Professor at the Institute for Information Law (IViR), Amsterdam Law School. Starting with a focus on copyright law, João’s research agenda has developed along three research strands. First, he studies how intellectual property (IP) law applies to new technologies, from peer-to-peer networks, to streaming, hyperlinking, blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Second, he examines the implications of copyright law and its (algorithmic) enforcement on Internet users’ rights and freedoms, on creators’ remuneration, and on technological development. Third, he assesses the role and responsibilities of large-scale platforms, especially in the context of algorithmic content moderation of illegal/harmful content.
João’s past legal and interdisciplinary projects include: “Copyright in the Age of Online Access: Alternatives to Copyright Enforcement” (NWO Top-Project 407-11-050); the “Global Online Piracy” study; and “Reconstructing Rights: Rethinking copyright’s economic rights in a time of highly dynamic technological and economic change”; the ERC-funded Blockchain&Society Research Lab; interdisciplinary research in the project ‘Governing AI-driven Virtual Assistants’, funded by the Research Priority Area Human(e) AI at the UvA.
Recent and current research includes: an NWO VENI Grant (SSH) for the project “Responsible Algorithms: How to Safeguard Freedom of Expression Online”; leading a Work Package on content moderation on hosting platforms and its impact on access to culture for the Horizon 2020 project ‘reCreating Europe’; interdisciplinary projects for the European Commission tackling the challenges of AI to the IP rights framework and collective rights management in Europe; and an international project on the Right to Research in International Copyright Law.
João is also Co-Managing Editor of the widely read Kluwer Copyright Blog, co-Director of the Glushko & Samuelson Information Law and Policy Lab, member of the European Copyright Society, member of the Management Team of the Digital Services Act Observatory, member of ALGOSOC project on Public Values in the Algorithmic Society, and member of the Netherlands Network of Human Rights Research (Working Group Human Rights in the Digital Age).
João has published extensively in the area of information law. His publications can be found in the list below or on SSRN.