Wednesday, 20 February 2019, 1730 – 1900

Humanities Lecture Theatre, Main Building, University of Glasgow 

Trade deals and disputes – copyright as a possible model?

Professor Alison Firth, University of Surrey

[Book Here]

For the second lecture in the Spring 2019 Series CREATe welcomes Alison Firth to present ‘Trade deals and disputes – copyright as a possible model?’

Abstract:
With deconstruction of the UK’s EU membership having been 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 a party – the European Convention on Human Rights and the World Trade Organisation’s “TRIPs” agreement on trade related aspects of intellectual property rights [the subject of Antony Taubman’s 28 November CREATe lecture] – and how disputes under them are resolved. For copyright disputes, Prof. Laurence Helfer suggested some time ago that WTO dispute resolution panels follow the approach of the European Court of Human Rights in interpreting TRIPs. Is this feasible? Is it an approach that could be adopted for other treaties? How else might the interpretation and application of treaties be brought up to date? Alison Firth will explore these issues using copyright as an example.

Biography:
Alison Firth, is Professor emeritus in law, University of Surrey and Visiting professor, Queen Mary, University of London and at Newcastle Law School; She is also a visiting fellow, New College of the Humanities, London

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Timeline of Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive (click image for full size)

Yesterday morning, before the agreement reached in the trilogue between Commission, Parliament and Council, I gave an interview to Wired on Article 13. What we know about the final text from the representation in the press release by the Parliament’s rapporteur Axel Voss, hides the uncomfortable truth that copyright law has been used as a tool of industrial policy that will benefit quite narrow interests. The objectives of achieving a Digital Single Market and of support for creatives and journalists (which carry wide support) gloss over interventions that lack an evidence base.

Chris Stokel-Walker’s questions:

– Why is Article 13 so troublesome?
– What do you say to those who say it’s necessary?
– What is your reaction to this week’s trilogue negotiation meetings, and your thoughts on the changes to the wording of the law happening right now?
– What exactly is it about the renegotiations going on this week that makes Article 13 worse than already feared?

Martin Kretschmer’s response:

Article 13 is industrial policy targeted at a very narrow sector. It responds chiefly to concerns by parts of the music industry about the licensing deals or revenue sharing offered by Google’s YouTube platform. This has been termed, in an effective but misleading rhetoric, the ‘value gap’. Continue reading →

Report by Anthony Rosborough, (LLM Candidate in the Intellectual Property & Digital Economy Programme at the University of Glasgow)

Dr. Husovec presenting at the first of CREATe’s Spring Public Lecture Series 2019. Image credit: Anthony Rosborough

On the 6th of February, Dr. Martin Husovec (Assistant Professor at Tilburg Law School) presented a lecture focused on the difficulty in repealing and reversing new intellectual property rights. Chaired by Lecturer Dr. Marta Iljadica, the lecture was held in the University of Glasgow’s Arts and Humanities Threatre as the first of CREATE’s Spring Public Lecture Series.

Dr. Husovec focused on the practical obstacles involved in repealing new intellectual property rights when they do not achieve their intended results or have negative consequences. The purpose of the inquiry is to assist in informing our thinking about when new intellectual property rights should be introduced, and under what conditions. Continue reading →

To explore the full Wiki, click here or the image above.

This post is part of a series of summary round-ups for new entries to the Copyright Evidence Wiki (organised thematically). As part of CREATe’s workstream for the AHRC Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, the Wiki catalogues empirical studies on copyright. This month, we summarise new studies added to the database under the themes of: Piracy, Maximising Returns, Perceptions of Copyright, and Copyright and Libraries.

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To explore the full Wiki, click here or the image above.

This is the second of a series of summary posts rounding-up new entries to the Copyright Evidence Wiki (organised thematically). As part of CREATe’s workstream for the AHRC Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, the Wiki catalogues empirical studies on copyright. This month, we summarise new studies added to the database under the themes of: Platform Regulation; Copyright in Courts; Copyright and Libraries; Perceptions of Copyright, and; Open Source. Continue reading →

To launch the publication of her new book, Art and Modern Copyright: The Contested Image, CREATe’s Dr Elena Cooper gave a talk at the Victorian Picture Gallery, Royal Holloway, University of London on 5 December 2018. Dr Cooper illustrated central themes of her research – the first in-depth and longitudinal study of copyright protecting the visual arts – by drawing on the rich collection of nineteenth century paintings in the Gallery, focussing particularly on nineteenth century copyright debates concerning painters’ repetitions of their own work. The presentation provoked comments and questions from a broad interdisciplinary audience. A film, presented by Dr Cooper, using the paintings in the Gallery as a way into the history of copyright, will follow in 2019, produced by Exhibition on Screen.

photographs by Susanna Brunetti.

Now available is a new paper in the CREATe Working Paper series: Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning and EU copyright law: Who owns AI? by Thomas Margoni

Dr Thomas Margoni is a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property and Internet Law at the School of Law – CREATe Centre and convener of the LLM programme in Intellectual Property and the Digital Economy. His research interests concentrate on the relationship between law (especially IP) and new technologies with particular attention to the role of the Internet as a new medium to access, create and disseminate knowledge in the current information-based society. Recent examples of research projects include OpenMinTeD, the EU H2020 project for the development of an e-infrastructure for Text and Data Mining (TDM) in Europe where Thomas coordinates the legal working group (www.openminted.eu); OpenAireAdvance, the EU 2020 project to support Open Science in the EU; the role and liability of online intermediaries; copyright, design rights and 3D printing; the digitisation of cultural heritage; and the role of property rights in sports.

The full abstract and downloadable paper can be accessed from here: Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning and EU copyright law: Who owns AI?

A paper forthcoming in the International Journal of Digital Television is now available in the CREATe Working Paper series: Television and the development of the data economy: Data analysis, power and the public interest by Gillian Doyle.

Gillian Doyle is Professor of Media Economics and Director of the Centre for Cultural Policy Research (CCPR) at the University of Glasgow, and Co-Investigator of CREATe’s workstrand in the new AHRC Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (PEC).

ABSTRACT: Data analysis is steadily becoming more central to management decision-making in media organizations across the globe. The reliance of subscription video on demand (SVoD) services, such as Netflix, on data analytics to underpin decisions about new content investment is well-established. However, what are the key opportunities and challenges facing the rest of the television industry? This article examines how data analysis is facilitating improved methods of personalization and more effective intelligence about the relative appeal of content for differing audience segments. But growing reliance on big data also raises a number of critical public interest questions. This article highlights how data is now a key source of competitive advantage in the television industry and a resource that can be monopolized. It argues that media policy-making needs to pay more attention to the emergence and implications of asymmetries of power in relation to ownership and use of data in managerial decision-making.

The full paper can be accessed here: Television and the development of the data economy: Data analysis, power and the public interest

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