IPKat Book review: Art and Modern Copyright by CREATe’s Dr Elena Cooper

Readers of the IPKat will have seen the book review posted last week of ‘Art and Modern Copyright – The Contested Image’ (CUP, 2018) by CREATe’s Dr Elena Cooper, which was launched at the Victorian Picture Gallery in December last year. The IPKat praises the book as ‘the first… comprehensive study’ of copyright as it relates to the fine arts, ‘brilliantly executed’, and ‘revealing in a nuanced way the manner by which images have laboured their way into copyright law.’ The review was written by Dr Mathilde Pavis, who considers it ‘one of the favourite books I have reviewed this year’. Pavis’ review also highlights the interdisciplinary nature of Cooper’s analysis and the detailed nature of the archival work on which it is based, which are aspects commended elsewhere. Mr Justice Richard Arnold (High Court of England & Wales), writing in the Oxford Journal of IP and Practice, concludes that the ‘prodigious amount of archival research into artistic and legal sources’ results in ‘a significant contribution not only to the history of copyright but also to the history and sociology of art and the history of the second half of the long 19^th century more generally’ (A Significant Contribution to Copyright History, JIPLP, 2019, 252-254, 253). Further complimentary reviews have been published in the Cambridge Law Journal (by Dr Stina Teilmann-Lock – drawing attention to the significance of the ‘excellent volume’ for debates today, CLJ, 2019, 207-210), the European Intellectual Property Quarterly (by Dr Chen Wei Zhu – ‘an exemplary study’ offering ‘profound insight’, EIPR, 2019, 41(4), 266-268) and the Intellectual Property Quarterly (by Dr Aislinn O’Connell – a ‘fascinating read’, IPQ 2019, 1, 87-89). The book will be followed later in 2019 by a film, presented by Dr Cooper and produced by Exhibition on Screen, which uses nineteenth century paintings as a starting point for exploring the relation between copyright and culture. The full IPKat review can be found here: http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2019/05/book-review-art-and-modern-copyright.html