Conference report: Judge Denny Chin, the Jeremy Lin of law

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Conference report: Judge Denny Chin, the Jeremy Lin of law

Judge Denny Chin wanted attendees of the Fordham IP China Conference to know two things: First, he is not an IP expert. Second, he is not a China expert

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals judge said he was told by conference organisers to talk about three things: the languishing Google Books litigation he has presided over since 2005, cloud computing and his recent trip to China.

Of the Google Books case, Chin said simply: “It does not seem those negotiations have gone anywhere.”

On the second point, Chin said he was recently introduced to the cloud with the purchase of his first iPhone. This underscored an important reality for IP practitioners – many US judges, he said, are not familiar with the technology being litigated.

“I’m not on Facebook,” Chin said. “In the Second Circuit, we still use fax machines,” he added.

This prompted Federal Circuit chief judge Randall Rader, a fellow panellist sitting next to him, to say: “You’re embarrassing me.”

But he noted that this is nothing new. Judges and courts have adapted to technology since before the cloud, citing the VCR, cable television and the remote DVR as examples.

“As technology changes and new copyright issues arise, the courts have to deal with them,” he said.

Though Chin was born in Hong Kong, he immigrated to the US soon after. Until recently, he hadn’t returned: “For whatever reason, I never made it back to Asia.”

On this visit with a delegation from Fordham Law School, he was impressed by the questions Chinese university students asked him. The first question concerned the Daubert decision and the use of survey evidence.

The Chinese press called him the Jeremy Lin of the federal judiciary, a tribute to the Taiwanese-American professional basketball player who led the beleaguered Knicks on a winning streak in February.

“I’m a lifelong Knicks fan,” he said, eliciting laughter. “Jeremy Lin is an important development for us long-suffering Knicks fans.”

Overall, Chin said the trip reminded him that “you can’t oversimplify what’s happening in China”. Like the US, China is having the same struggles in finding the balance between the rights of copyright holders and the rights of the users.



more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

A $110 million US verdict against Apple and an appellate order staying a $39 million trademark infringement finding against Amazon were also among the top talking points
Attorneys are watching how AI affects trademark registrations and whether a SCOTUS ruling from last year will have broader free speech implications
Patent lawyers explain why they will be keeping an eye on the implications of a pharma case and on changes at the USPTO in the second half of 2025
The insensitive reaction to a UK politician crying on TV proves we have a long way to go before we can say we are tackling workplace wellbeing
Adrian Percer says he was impressed by the firm’s work on billion-dollar cases as well as its culture
In our latest interview with women IP leaders, Catherine Bonner at Murgitroyd discusses technology, training, and teaching
Developments included an update in the VAR dispute between Ballinno and UEFA, the latest CMS updates, and a swathe of market moves
The LMG Life Sciences Americas Awards is thrilled to present the 2025 shortlist
A new order has brought the total security awarded to a Canadian tech company to $45 million, the highest-ever by an Indian court in an IP case
Andrew Blattman reflects on how IP practices have changed and shares his hopes for increased AI use and better performance on the stock market
Gift this article