Prof. Martinek discusses scholarly and political proposals to install into our legal systems an electronic person or “e-person“ – in analogy to the legal or juridical person – in order to better cope with the problems of liability in cases of damages caused by systems of Artificial Intelligence (AI). He considers the pros and cons in the light of the technological environment provided for by the 4^th and a future 5^th industrial revolution. Prof. Martinek is hesitant to promote the idea of an e-person; at least the proposal comes too early.

About the Speaker:

Professor Michael Martinek held the chair for Civil and Commercial Law, Business Organisation Law, Comparative Law and Private International Law of University of Saarland in Saarbruecken, Germany, from 1986 to 2019. He was also director of the Institute of European Law. He wrote a doctoral thesis in law (Dr.iur., Berlin 1978) and one in political sciences (Dr.rer.publ., Speyer 1981). He was awarded the degree “Master of Comparative Jurisprudence” by New York University in 1982 after one years of studies in the USA. Having obtained the professorial qualification (venia legendi) in 1986, he was a docent at university of Muenster/Westfalia, before he was appointed professor for life at Saarland University in Saarbruecken.

Professor Martinek’s ongoing research focuses on German and European commercial and business law, trade regulation law and antitrust law, particularly the law of distribution systems and banking law. He has written more than 30 books and major treatises (some of them have become standard works) and more than 250 articles, contributions and notes. He is a visiting professor at ZUEL Wuhan and at University of Johannesburg, Rep. of South Africa where he he was was appointed Honorary Professor of Law in 2006 and Distinguished Visiting Professor in 2015.

The Law Society of Hong Kong has awarded this seminar 1 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) point.