ASSOCIATE DEAN LIM PUBLISHES 'BANANA REPUBLIC' ARTICLE ON GENERATIVE AI AND COPYRIGHT LAW
July 2025—Associate Dean Daryl Lim’s latest article, “Banana Republic: Copyright Law and the Extractive Logic of Generative AI,” has been published by the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice (Oxford University Press).
In this piece, Lim uses the provocative metaphor of Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian to examine how generative AI systems absorb human creativity and convert it into commercial outputs, often without proper attribution or compensation. The article critiques the limitations of current copyright doctrines and regulatory responses, while connecting directly to his teaching and research on intellectual property, technology law, and innovation policy.
Published in a leading peer-reviewed journal, the article contributes to global debates on the future of copyright and AI governance. The Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice is an Oxford University Press publication read widely by scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. The article advances interdisciplinary dialogue and supports Penn State Dickinson Law’s mission to lead in law and emerging technologies.
Daryl Lim is the H. Laddie Montague Jr. Chair in Law at Penn State Dickinson Law. He is also the Associate Dean for Research and Innovation and Founding Director of the Intellectual Property (IP) Law and Innovation Initiative. At the university level, he is a co-hire at the Institute of Computational and Data Sciences and an affiliate at the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence.
Professor Lim is an award-winning author, observer, and commentator on national and global trends in IP and competition policy and how they influence and are influenced by law, technology, economics, and politics. He helps policymakers, attorneys, corporate counsel, scholars, and the public understand the world around them. He is a founding member of the Global IP Alliance and its local chapters in Pennsylvania and Illinois. In addition, he serves as Co-Chair of the University Education Committee in the US IP Alliance.
In December 2022, the American Law Institute elected Professor Lim to its membership based on demonstrated excellence and outstanding professional achievement. In 2023, the US Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission recognized him as “a leading expert in antitrust law and economics” and the IAM Strategy 300, a guide to the industry pioneers with “exceptional skill sets, as well as profound insights into the development, creation, and management of IP value,” named him to its World’s Leading IP Strategists 2023 list. In 2024, he was appointed to the consultative group advising the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence. In 2025, he received the IP Professor of the Year Award at the Global Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence & Technology Conclave & Awards.