On October 22, 2021, the twenty-first keynote speech of the "Fudan Transnational Corporations and Law Forum" was held successfully online. This speech titled "Intellectual Property Licensing Management for Entertainment Corporations" was hosted by Professor ZHANG Naigen of Fudan University Law School, delivered by Mr ZHANG Hongkai, Chief Law Officer for IP of NBC Universal, and commented by Professor CONG Lixian, Vice Dean of IP School, East China University of Political Science and Law.

Mr ZHANG kicked off the speech with an introduction of the industry's ecology of entertainment corporations. The main products provided by entertainment corporations are intellectual properties (IP), especially the contents and brands protected under copyright law and trademark law. Mr ZHANG then illustrated the IP licensing mode of entertainment corporations from three aspects: the major types, the commercial significance and the process of IP licensing. In practice, entertainment corporations usually issue licenses on film and television contents, spatial scenes, such as theme parks and real scene experiences, and derivative consumer products. The licensing of IP rights contributes to increasing product sales, promoting the marketing of products, expanding the market influence of the brands and contents possessed by entertainment corporations, while the licensor is enabled to ensure compliance with the legal requirements for the use of trademarks through licensing. The licensing process includes the preparation of materials for licensing, the negotiation of licensing, etc. Among these steps, Mr ZHANG focused on how to prepare materials for licensing, including how to make arrangements for trademark registrations, how to select elements for licensing, and how to properly use contents in the "public domain". Lastly, Mr ZHANG briefly introduced how entertainment corporations set up an internal IP management system for the purpose of licensing. Mr ZHANG emphasized that a qualified IP management system should at least be able to ensure that the entertainment corporation actually owns the IP rights of the licensed material and can effectively monitor the unauthorized uses in the market.

In the commenting session, Professor CONG Lixian shared some insightful comments on several issues, including whether China should improve the legal policies regarding the use and management of IP and whether the scope of protection under existing IP laws is sufficient for the entertainment industry. Professor CONG and Mr ZHANG had an in-depth discussion with the audience in the Q&A session.

On October 28, 2021, the Forum will host the twenty-second keynote speech titled "City and International Law" by ZHU Mingxin, Associate Professor of Kenneth Wang School of Law, Soochow University.