Welcome back to another week of Bells & Whistles!
As the year draws to a close, we hope you’re finding some time to relax and explore — whether it’s on vacation or just a quick getaway. While you’re on the move, catch up on our latest SpicyIP podcasts and dive into this week’s Bell of the Week, a spotlight on something truly worth exploring.
Also please note that the deadline for the SpicyIP-Jhana Blog Post Competition is coming close – 30th December 2025 so if you haven’t submitted here’s your reminder!
BELL OF THE WEEK: PRASHANT IYENGAR
Some Bells don’t just chime — they open doors to entirely new ways of thinking. This week, I want to spotlight Prashant Iyengar, a legal scholar, open-access advocate, and lecturer at Columbia University, whose work has quietly reshaped access to law in India.
As a law student, Prashant created OpenJudis, one of India’s first platforms to make court judgments searchable and freely accessible. This pioneering initiative not only helped countless students, researchers, and legal professionals, but also laid the groundwork for legal search platforms.
He also founded OriginalFake, a blog exploring the politics of IP, technology, and culture in India. Through his writing, Iyengar challenges conventional ideas of ownership, access, and creativity, offering insights into how IP laws shape innovation and society.
Every time we consult searchable judgments or think critically about IP in India, Prashant’s influence quietly resonates — a reminder that accessibility and thoughtful critique can truly change the game.
EVENTS
1. Artificial Intelligence and the Trouble for Authorship: Towards a Legal Theory of Effort
22 January 2026 | 01:00 – 02:00 pm GMT | Hybrid (In-person, UCL Faculty of Laws + Virtual)
This lecture explores the nature of authorship, the role of attention and intention in creativity, and the possibility of articulating a legal theory of effort within contemporary copyright law—an increasingly urgent question in the age of AI-generated works. Prof. Johanna Gibson is the Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary University of London, widely recognised for her scholarship at the intersection of IP, creative industries, and legal theory.
Register here | More info
OPPORTUNITIES
SpicyIP–jhana Blogpost Writing Competition 2025
Deadline: 30 December 2025
Organized in collaboration with jhana, the competition will run for six weeks, during which shortlisted entries will be published on the SpicyIP blog after editorial review. The top three entries will be announced in early January 2026. Participants and readers can also access a complimentary one-month jhana.ai Pro account using the promo code SPICYIP to support their research.
More info
1. Assistant Professor (Permanent) — School of Law, University of Warwick
Deadline: 13 January 2026 | 11:55 pm UK Time
Warwick Law School invites applications for one permanent Assistant Professor position starting 1 September 2026, with a salary range of £47,389–£56,535 per annum. The School particularly welcomes candidates with teaching expertise in EU Law and/or Trusts Law, but it also encourages applications from scholars working in other areas that align with Warwick’s curriculum, its Law in Context approach, and its wider academic activities.
More info
2. CopyrightX: NLSIU (with Harvard Law School)
Deadline: 14 January 2026
National Law School of India University (NLSIU), in collaboration with Harvard Law School (HLS), is inviting applications for CopyrightX: NLSIU, an eight-week hybrid course in comparative copyright law. Running from March 2 to April 30, 2026, the programme is open to students and professionals across South Asia and explores copyright across art, entertainment, and technology, with a strong emphasis on AI, creativity, and global copyright litigation.
More info
3. Open Call for Applications (2026–2027) — Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy (ICDE) Fellowship Program
Submission Deadline: 20 January 2026 | 11:59 pm ET
The Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy (ICDE) invites applications from Ph.D. candidates, post-docs, junior and early-career faculty, and individuals with equivalent research experience for its 2026–2027 Fellowship Program. This is a non-residential fellowship, with remote participation throughout the year. A key requirement is in-person participation and presentation at the Platform Cooperativism Consortium Conference, taking place November 12–15, 2026, at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. The fellowship supports a global research programme exploring how cooperatives, unions, and solidarity-economy organisations engage with digital systems, including AI and data-intensive infrastructures.
More info
4. Call for Applications: Internet and Society Fellowship 2026 | HIIG (Berlin)
Deadline: 31 January 2026 | 11:59 pm CET
The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) invites applications for its 2026 Internet and Society Fellowship. The 2026 cycle focuses on “Democratic Change and Knowledge,” and applicants should show how their research aligns with this theme. This edition offers a six-week, in-person fellowship in Berlin from 1 June to 18 July 2026. Applications must be submitted via the official form by the deadline.
More info
5. PhD Recruitment – Department of Law, Uppsala University
Application Deadline: 1 March 2026
The Department of Law at Uppsala University is inviting applications for three full-time doctoral (PhD) positions, starting 1 September 2026 (or by agreement). Doctoral students primarily devote their time to their own research, with the possibility of taking on up to 20% departmental duties such as teaching or administration.
More info
Thanks to Lokesh, Niharika, Daanish and Malobika for leads!
All non-sponsored listings featured here are events or opportunities free or nominally charged and ones we think our readers may be interested in. Sponsored listings will be marked as such. Unless specifically mentioned, SpicyIP has no affiliation to anything listed here. Know of an event worth sharing? Write to us at contact[at]spicyip[dot]com.
