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CREATe Public Lectures Spring 2018

Posted on    by Kerry Patterson
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CREATe Public Lectures Spring 2018

By 29 January 2018No Comments

For Spring 2018, CREATe Public Lectures bring you the following diverse topical issues:  i) copyright as a possible model for trade deal negotiation, ii) the history of Intellectual Property through cultural objects and iii) a discussion of the defence of fair dealing. These will take place in the Humanities Lecture Theatre at the University – all are free to attend but please book using the links below.

UPDATE (12th February): Due to planned industrial action by the UCU, we have cancelled two lectures and rescheduled Carys Craig’s lecture to the 21st March – booking below. We hope to reschedule the cancelled lectures in the Autumn of 2018.

Wednesday 21st March 1730-1900 **RESCHEDULED DATE**
The Predictable Decline of Fair Dealing? On Dialogue and Duelling Rights 
by Carys Craig (see below for abstract and booking)

Wednesday 28th February 1730-1900  *CANCELLED*
Trade deals and disputes – copyright as a possible model?
by Alison Firth (see below for abstract)

Wednesday 7th March 1730-1900 *CANCELLED*
A History of Intellectual Property in 50 Objects
by Claudy Op den Kamp (see below for abstract)



Wednesday 28th February 1730-1900 *CANCELLED*
Trade deals and disputes – copyright as a possible model?
by Alison Firth, University of Surrey & Newcastle University

With deconstruction of the UK’s EU membership under negotiation, and talk of possible trade deals with countries outside the EU, it is worth taking a look at two international agreements to which the UK is already party – ECHR and WTO TRIPs –  and how disputes under them are resolved. For copyright disputes, Helfer suggested some time ago that WTO dispute resolution panels follow the approach of the European Court of Human Rights. Is this feasible? Is it an approach that could be adopted for other treaties?

Alison Firth read Physics at Oxford and has an MSc in polymer physics. She later qualified as a barrister, practising in intellectual property chambers from 1983. From 1987 to 2004 she taught at the centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London and from 2005 to 2009 she was Professor of commercial law at Newcastle Law School. In  2009, she took up a chair in law at  the University of Surrey and on her retirement in 2012 was appointed Professor Emeritus. She is visiting Professor at Newcastle University. In 2013 and 2015 she taught patent law for Singapore’s Intellectual Property Academy.

 



Wednesday 7th March 1730-1900  *CANCELLED*
A History of Intellectual Property in 50 Objects
by Claudy Op den Kamp, Bournemouth University

Op den Kamp’s book, A History of Intellectual Property in 50 Objects, will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2018. The book presents IP as an approachable topic and demonstrates its importance by focusing on 50 objects—including the Singer Sewing Machine, the Corset, the Barbie Doll, and the Post-It. All of the objects have been included for the larger stories that they tell, stories that help us understand the unrecognised effect of IP upon historical events and current society. Some of the objects are not in use anymore, some are objects of daily use, and some have become so ubiquitous that we may have forgotten their original link with the IP-system.

One objects of particular significance in the context of CREATe research interests is Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie (1928). The film is a jumping off point to talk about the extension of the copyright term, and the case provides insights into the locking down of potential of other copyrighted works, and the orphan works phenomenon. It is linked to other examples through its focus on a big corporation that exploits multiple regimes of the IP system – see also the Barbie Doll and the Lego Brick. Through its focus on exploitation of the public domain and creating enduring economic value out of cultural heritage, it is linked to the example of the Mona Lisa. Op den Kamp’s presentation will use these obbjects and their stories to address IP as a filter that helps shape access to cultural heritage collections in ways that both impede and facilitate.

Claudy Op den Kamp is a graduate of the University of Amsterdam (Film & Television Studies) and the University of East Anglia (Film Archiving). She is now Lecturer in Film and faculty member at the Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management at Bournemouth University, UK, and Adjunct Research Fellow at Swinburne Law School, Australia. She holds a PhD from Plymouth University on the relationship between copyright ownership, access to archival film, and film historiography.

 

 



Wednesday 21st March 1730-1900 **RESCHEDULED DATE**
The Predictable Decline of Fair Dealing? On Dialogue and Duelling Rights
by Carys Craig, York University, Toronto

Fair dealing permits fair uses to be made of copyright protected works without incurring liability for infringement. It has long been a matter of debate whether the defence is properly conceived of as a narrow exception, a limited privilege, or a user’s right . In Canada, which inherited its fair dealing provisions from the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court has defined fair dealing as a “user right” essential to striking copyright’s “balance” between authors and the public interest. It is widely thought that a user rights-based approach to fair dealing—or its US counterpart, fair use—is likely to lead to a greater ambit for the defence, and a more limited scope for copyright owners to preclude publicly beneficial downstream uses of their work. The judicial and statutory evolution of fair dealing in Canada seemed to support this assumption—until recently.

Craig’s presentation will highlight two 2017 cases on fair dealing for education and parody purposes, respectively, which suggest that the recognition of fair dealing as a user right did not produce the paradigm shift that many perceived. Craig has cautioned that the rise of “user rights” may be more rhetorical than real, and may bring more risks to the public interest than we might realize. With a view to these two cases, she will explain why a rights-based balancing approach both permits and legitimizes a restrictive interpretation of fair dealing. She will argue that the fair use doctrine requires, rather than individual duelling rights, a fuller appreciation of the dialogic nature of copyright’s work.

Carys Craig is Associate Dean (Research & Institutional Relations), and an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto. She is the Academic Director of the Osgoode Professional Development LLM Program in Intellectual Property Law. Dr. Craig holds a First Class Honours Bachelor of Laws (LLB Hons) from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, a Master of Laws (LLM) from Queen’s University in Kingston, and a Doctorate in Law (SJD) from the University of Toronto, where she was a graduate fellow of Ontario’s Centre for Innovation Law and Policy.

Book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/21-march-2018-create-public-lecture-carys-craig-tickets-42492468116 

In addition, Dr Craig will also present a paper on the topic ‘Bringing a Critical Lens to Copyright Law: Towards a Relational Theory of Authors’ Rights’. This second event is organised by Glasgow Legal Theory, and will take place at 3.30-5pm on Thursday 22 March, in Room 250, Gilbert Scott Building.


For questions or press information about the events please get in touch with contact@create.ac.uk