Associate Dean Daryl Lim publishes on AI governance and legal pluralism

CARLISLE, Pa.—Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Partnerships Daryl Lim has published “The Surprising Virtues of Heterogeneity: Legal Pluralism and the Governance of Generative AI” in the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies. The article argues that the United States’ fragmented regulatory approach to generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a strategic strength rather than a flaw.

In the article (which you can read here), Lim contends that overlapping legal doctrines, principally privacy, the right of publicity, and copyright, provide a resilient and adaptive framework for addressing identity-linked harms in generative AI. Rather than advocating a single comprehensive federal regime, he proposes a narrowly tailored federal “data right” to supplement existing protections while preserving doctrinal diversity and federalism. The work builds on his ongoing scholarship at the intersection of intellectual property, artificial intelligence, and innovation policy and informs his teaching in intellectual property, antitrust, and AI governance.

The Singapore Journal of Legal Studies is the flagship law review of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Law and is widely regarded as one of Asia’s leading peer-reviewed law journals. The article was developed in connection with the “IP & Technology in the 21st Century” conference at NUS and reflects Lim’s role as an Academic Fellow of the NUS Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law (TRAIL). The publication contributes to ongoing global conversations about AI regulation, federalism, and cross-border governance frameworks.

Daryl Lim is the H. Laddie Montague Jr. Chair in Law at Penn State Dickinson Law. He is also the Associate Dean for Research & Strategic Partnerships 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.