/// AN EXCITING AND UNIQUE DOCTORAL FIRST – DISSERTATION DEFENSE ON MUSICAL AUTHORSHIP IN THE DIGITAL AND ALGORITHMIC AGE

From left: Prof. Varda Liberman, Provost and Head of MBA in Healthcare Innovation; Prof. Uriel Reichman; Prof. Lior Zemer; Dr. Eyal Brook; Prof. Rafi Melnick, Photo: Eyal Gaziel

A significant milestone has been achieved: the first doctoral graduate from the Harry Radzyner Law School at Reichman University was announced!

From left: Prof. Dov Greenbaum, Prof. Shlomit Yanisky-Ravid, Prof. Miriam Marcowitz-Bitton, Prof. Andreas Rahmatian, and Prof. Lior Zemer

Eyal Gaziel

Recently, Attorney Eyal Brook was given the opportunity to defend his dissertation on Musical Authorship in the Digital and Algorithmic Age, written under the supervision of Prof. Lior Zemer, Dean of the Harry Radzyner Law School. The event took place in front of dignitaries including members of the examining committee, law school faculty and leading researchers in the field.

Eyal is a gifted musician and well-known lawyer in Israel in the field of intellectual property. He has released two CDs locally and played hundreds of gigs including prestigious ones in the UK, like supporting The Cranberries at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Ronnie Scott’s Songwriters Festival (alongside Coldplay), Birmingham Symphony Hall and many London venues.

His thesis presents the radical disjuncture between the law, and the social musical practices it supposedly governs. New musical practices based on novel technologies, afford entirely new modes of creative musical authorship, process and products, thus undermining basic notions of copyright law and authorship.

Some of the highlights of the event included “live” musical demonstrations of the thesis, played by Eyal, of traditional works from JS Bach to Louis Vierne. He collaborated with leading digital sound artist and DJ Omer Luz (aka Peter Spacey), playing the mythological song “The last summer”, by the band Shfiyut Zmanit (of which Eyal is a former member). The event culminated with a cuttingedge demonstration of a song created by artificial intelligence and presented by avatars.

Members of the international examining committee, who presented related questions requiring Eyal to defend his research thesis amidst the academic professionals, were: Prof. Andreas Rahmatian, School of Law at Glasgow University; Prof. Shlomit YaniskyRavid, School of Law, Ono Academic College and Fordham University School of Law (recently identified as “the foremost thinker on AI and copyright” at the American Copyright Society Annual Event); Prof. Miriam Markowitz-Biton, Faculty of Law, Bar-Ilan University; Prof. Dov Greenbaum JD PhD, Head of the Zvi Meitar Institute for Legal Implications of Emerging Technologies, Harry Radzyner Law School, Reichman University; and Prof. Lior Zemer.

At the end of the presentation, members of the committee praised Eyal’s research work, declared that it merits the award of PhD degree, and recommended giving it an “excellent” grade. He thanked Prof. Zemer for the excellent supervision, the distinguished supervising committee members, and the examining committee, as well as Reichman University, Founding President and Chairman of the Board Prof. Uriel Reichman and President Prof. Rafi Melnick, proclaiming it a great honor to be the first University doctor. Eyal’s degree will be officially awarded in the upcoming graduation ceremony in June 2023.