Academic Staff

Marcelo Thompson

Research Assistant Professor
Deputy Director, LLM (IT & IP)

E-Mail | HKU ResearcherPage | SSRN |

Marcelo Thompson is a Research Assistant Professor and Deputy Director of the LLM in Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong. Courses he teaches or has taught are "Law and Society", "Regulation of Cyberspace", "Privacy and Data Protection" and "Introduction to Information Technology Law". Marcelo is finishing his DPhil thesis at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, on the idea of neutrality in technology law and politics. He holds an LLM (Law and Technology) from the University of Ottawa, where he wrote his major research paper on copyright reform and the human right of access to knowledge. 

A native of Brazil, Marcelo was the recipient of a full doctorate scholarship from The CAPES Foundation, of the Brazilian Ministry of Education, for which he was ranked 1st place, nationally, in the area of Law. His LLB was concluded at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), from where he also holds a PgDip in Intellectual Property Law. From May to June 2008 Marcelo was an Alcatel-Lucent Foundation Visiting Fellow at the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research, University of Hamburg. Marcelo has given lectures and spoken in conferences in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Prior to returning to academia, Marcelo was the Attorney General of the Brazilian Information Technology Institute - ITI, under the Office of the President of Brazil (2004-2005), where he headed the legal team in charge of both the Brazilian Free Software Programme and the Brazilian Public Key Infrastructure. From 2002 to 2004 Marcelo was the Head of the Department of Litigation (2003-2004) and an Attorney within the Venture Capital division (2002-2003) of the Brazilian Innovation Agency - FINEP, under the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology. While working for FINEP, Marcelo was a Part-Time Professor of Information Technology Law at his alma mater, PUC-Rio (2002-2003). Marcelo started his professional career in 1998, practicing as a law clerk (1998-2000) and later as a lawyer (2001) in a boutique technology law firm in Rio de Janeiro.

Internet Governance
Jurisprudence and Political Theory
Personal Identity and Authentication
Privacy and Data Protection
Copyright and Access to Knowledge
Brazilian Law

Key Publications

"The Neutralization of Harmony: Whither the Good Information Environment" (2012) 18:2 Boston University Journal of Science and Technology Law [forthcoming] [SSRN (draft)].

Other Publications

"In Search of Alterity: On Google, Neutrality, and Otherness" in Aurelio Lopez-Tarruella, ed., Google and the Law: Empirical Approaches to Legal Aspects of Knowledge-Economy Business Models, Vol. 22, Information Technology and Law Series (The Hague: T.M.C. Asser Press, 2012) pp. 355-403 [SSRN (draft); SpringerLink]; originally printed, with alterations, in (2011) 14 Tulane Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property 137-190.

"The Insensitive Internet: Brazil and the Judicialization of Pain" (2010) IPilogue 1-20 [online].

"The Sheriff of 'Not-the-Internet': Reflections on Comcast Corp. v FCC" (2010) 1:1 Communications Law Review 201-215 [SSRN (draft); Thomson RT].

"Identity, Capacity and Totality: Rethinking the Boundaries of Personhood in Brazil" (2009) 3 poliTICs 25-33 [online, in Portuguese: "Identidade, Capacidade e Totalidade: Repensando as Fronteiras da Personalidade no Brasil"].

"The Democracy of FLOSS: Software Procurement Under the Democratic Principle" (2008) 5:1&2 University of Ottawa Law & Technology Journal 79-124 [SSRN].

"The Northern European Subset: A Cross-Border Platform for Electronic Public Procurement" (2008) 4 Public Procurement Law Review 175-199 [Westlaw].

with Mary Rundle, Bob Blakley, Jeff Broberg, Tony Nadalin, Dale Olds, Mary Ruddy and Paul Trevithick, At a Crossroads: Personhood and Digital Identity in the Information Society. OECD, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, Working Paper DSTI/DOC(2007)7 [online]

"Property Enforcement or Retrogressive Measure? Copyright Reform in Canada and the Human Right of Access to Knowledge" (2007) 4:1&2 University of Ottawa Law & Technology Journal 163-241 [SSRN].

with Sergio Vieira Branco Jr. Forewords to Joaquim Falcão, Ronaldo Lemos, and Tercio Sampaio Ferraz Junior "Free Software Law and Public Administration" (Rio de Janeiro: Lumen Juris, 2007), pp. ix-xxi [online, in Portuguese: "Direito do Software Livre e a Administração Pública"].

"Taxation of Information Technology Services" (2003) 1 Tax Magazine of the City of Rio de Janeiro [in Portuguese].