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Bio
Mélanie Clément-Fontaine is Full Professor of Private Law at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Université Paris-Saclay) and is currently on secondment at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi. She is a researcher at SAFIR (United Arab Emirates) and DANTE (France), which she directed from 2015 to 2020. Her research spans several complementary areas: culture and the commons, intellectual property, and data and artificial intelligence law.
Culture, commons and communities. Her research focuses on the dissemination of cultural goods and the governance of the commons, including online epistemic communities, free and open-source software, and the restitution of museum collections. She has co-edited several special issues of academic journals on these topics (Lex Electronica, Revue de droit de Sherbrooke, Terminal), as well as a book on La restitution des collections muséales (Mare & Martin, 2022) and an Encyclopédie des communautés et pratiques communautaires (Éditions Paris-Saclay, 2025). She also contributes to the development and implementation of open science policies, both at national level and within Université Paris-Saclay.
Intellectual property, data law and artificial intelligence. Working at the intersection of digital law and intellectual property, she has long-standing expertise in free and open-source licences and open source. Her recent research focuses in particular on data governance, open science, and the legal regulation of artificial intelligence. She directs the dual degree programme in Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property (IAPI), jointly developed by Université Paris-Saclay and the Université du Québec à Montréal. She also oversees the weekly Actualité Dalloz Technologie de l’information column and contributes to Lamy droit du numérique.
International collaborations. Her research is embedded in a number of international collaborations, notably with teams in Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Europe and Africa. She is involved in several international academic networks, including Trans Europe Experts, the Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale (ALAI), the Société de législation comparée, and the Groupe de réflexion en droit privé (GRDP) at the Université du Québec à Montréal.
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