Columbia University in the City of New York

Global Freedom of Expression

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13 November

Humor and Free Speech: A Comparative Analysis of Global Case Law

  • 8:00am-10:00am ET (New York); 10:00am-12:00pm BRT (São Paulo)

Hosted by the Escola Paulista da Magistratura (São Paulo School of Judges)

in cooperation with Columbia Global Freedom of Expression

REGISTER HERE* (see instructions below)

The event will be in English and Portuguese with simultaneous interpretation.

Due to the massive use of the internet as a vehicle for the exercise of freedom of expression, resulting in a large number of judicial processes on it in Brazil, and the actual difficulty in implementing effective protection of freedom of expression and at the same time guaranteeing safeguard to other rights that have the same level of constitutional and legal protection, the course objective is to study the current academic and judicial trends on the mentioned subject, nationally and internationally, to assist legal operators in the task of solving the practical problems that have emerged.

Professor at University of Groningen Alberto Godioli and judge of São Paulo Court of Justice Tom Alexandre Brandão-PhD will discuss how the Brazilian Courts and Courts around the world are analyzing humor discourse when it collides with other protected rights, identifying the main criteria invoked by Courts in a set of five cluster cases/issues, and how the use of the Internet as a vehicle for humor discourse is shaping the judicial understanding about it.

The cluster of cases/issues relate to: satire, defamation and other dignitary harms; disparaging humor and hate speech; humor, violence and public unrest; parody, copyright and trademarks; humor and “public morals”.

Furthermore, speakers will present paradigmatic cases before Brazilian courts and the conformity of the decisions with the foreign ones and the criteria that should be used when it comes to humorous speech.

Moderator:

  • Dr. Enéas Costa Garcia, São Paulo Court of Justice; São Paulo School of Judges

Speakers:

  • Dr. Alberto Godioli, University of Groningen
  • Tom Alexandre Brandão, São Paulo Court of Justice; São Paulo School of Judges

This webinar was made possible with support of UNESCO Multi-Donor Programme on Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists (MDP)

*To register for the event, you need to Log in (Realizar Login). Once on the Login page, if you do not have an account on the platform, click on Subscribe now (Inscreva-se agora). Enter your email address, type in your verification code, and press on Verify code (Verificar código). Create (Criar) your account. In the upper right corner under Enrollment (Inscrição), choose Distance (Distância), click Sign up (Inscrever-se), and then press Register (Realizar Inscrição). Fill out the New Profile (Novo Perfil) form to finalize your registration.

Moderator: Dr. Enéas Costa Garcia, São Paulo Court of Justice; São Paulo School of Judges

Enéas Costa Garcia is a Judge of the São Paulo Court of Justice. He holds a Degree in Law from the University of São Paulo (1990), a Master’s degree in Civil Law from the University of São Paulo (2001), and a Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of São Paulo (2005). He is currently a professor at Universidade Paulista. He has experience in the area of ​​Law, with an emphasis on Civil Law.

Dr. Alberto Godioli, University of Groningen

Alberto Godioli is Associate Professor at the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), and program director of the Netherlands Research for Literary Studies (OSL). His research focuses on humor and free speech jurisprudence from an interdisciplinary perspective. He is principal investigator of an international research project on this topic (Humor in Court, NWO Vidi Grant, 2022-2027), in dialogue with stakeholders such as Columbia Global Freedom of Expression, Cartoon Movement and Cartoonists’ Rights Network International. In 2022, together with Prof. Laura Little, he founded ForHum: Forum for Humor and the Law – a global platform bringing together lawyers, humor scholars, artists and other key actors interested in humor, freedom of expression and related legal matters.

Tom Alexandre Brandão, São Paulo Court of Justice; São Paulo School of Judges

Tom Alexandre Brandão is a Judge of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo. He teaches at the São Paulo School of Judges. Tom Alexandre Brandão holds a Bachelor’s degree (2001), a Master’s degree (2009), and a Doctorate (2016) from the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo. He has experience in the area of ​​Law, with an emphasis on Civil Law.