abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the shifting cultural norms of copyright law, and that concept’s impact on the performance and practice of artists producing original works of authorship. Although related concepts predate it, and today it exists as a subset of a broader category known as intellectual property, the purpose of copyright beginning with the United States Constitution was to allow for a temporary economic monopoly to an author of a fixed creative work. This monopoly was meant to incentivize authors to contribute to the public good with works that promote progress in science and art. However, increases over time in the scope and duration of copyright terms grant broader protections and controls for copyright owners today, while advances in technology have provided the public with the potential for near-limitless low-cost access to information. This creates a conflict between proprietary interest in creative works and the public’s right and ability to access and build on those works. The history of copyright law in America is rife with efforts to balance these competing interests. The methodology for this study consisted of flexible strategies for collecting and analyzing data, primarily elite, semi-structured interviews with professional artists, attorneys, and others who engage with the cultural and legal norms of intellectual property regimes on a regular basis. Constant comparative analysis was used to maintain an emic perspective, prioritizing the subjective experience of individuals interviewed for this research project. Additional methods for qualitative analysis were also employed here to code and categorize gathered data, including the use of RQDA, a software package for Qualitative Data Analysis that runs within the R statistical software program. Various patterns and behaviors relevant to intellectual property reforms as they relate to artist practices were discussed in detail following the analysis of findings, in an effort to describe how cultural norms of copyright intersect with the creation of original works of authorship, and towards the development of the theory that the semiotic sign systems subject to intellectual property laws are not themselves forms of real property, as they do not meet the categorical requirements of scarce resources. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Journalism and Mass Communication 2018

Wu, Xiao. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-124). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Table of Contents --- p.v / Chapter Chapter One: --- Chinese Film Piracy Consumption and Media Globalization --- p.1 / Introduction: The Rampant Film Piracy in China --- p.1 / Literature Review --- p.4 / Focuses in Chinese Film Piracy --- p.4 / Four Theoretical Positions in Media Globalization --- p.7 / Summary --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter Two: --- Problematics of Chinese Film Piracy Consumption --- p.19 / Two Concepts --- p.19 / Diversity --- p.19 / Filmic Gene Pool --- p.20 / Two Arguments and One Deduction --- p.23 / The Argument for the Expanding Global Capital --- p.23 / The Argument for National Protectionism --- p.25 / The Long Tail --- p.26 / The Theoretical Deduction for the Chinese Case --- p.27 / Research Questions --- p.28 / Methodological Note --- p.28 / Chapter Chapter Three: --- A Re-Examination of Chinese Film Piracy Market --- p.32 / The Myth of Market Access --- p.32 / State Censorship Overlooked --- p.34 / The First-Release Obsession --- p.35 / An Internet Take-over? --- p.38 / Summary --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter Four: --- "In Search of the “Invisible"" Audience/Viewers" --- p.42 / The “Official´ح Audience --- p.42 / Chinese Film Audiences Re-Captured --- p.45 / Sketches on the ´بInvisible´ة Viewers --- p.51 / Conclusion --- p.56 / Chapter Chapter Five: --- Structural Analysis for Chinese Film Piracy Consumption --- p.58 / Chinese Piracy Viewers: An Idle Spare of the Nexus? --- p.58 / The Film Piracy Market in China --- p.61 / Summary --- p.63 / Chapter Chapter Six: --- A Brief History of Chinese Piracy Consumption --- p.67 / Video Hall (Mid-1980s to Mid-1990s) --- p.68 / Epoch of the Videodisc (Since mid-1990s) --- p.70 / Online Movie Forums and Blogs (1998-Present) --- p.73 / Online Social Networks of Cinephiles (2004-Present) --- p.76 / The Accompanying Print Media (1999-Present) --- p.78 / Conclusion --- p.82 / Chapter Chapter Seven: --- The Chinese Public Cine-Space --- p.83 / The Publicness of Piracy Viewing --- p.83 / A Public Cine-Space --- p.84 / Cultural Public Sphere: The Concept --- p.84 / The Chinese Internet --- p.85 / The Chinese Online Film Critics --- p.87 / The Chinese Public Cine-Space --- p.89 / A Trajectory of the Online Cine-Space --- p.90 / Mechanism towards Diversity --- p.93 / The Techno-Divide --- p.98 / Chapter Chapter Eight: --- Conclusion --- p.100 / Contributions --- p.100 / Historical Account of Chinese Film Piracy Consumption --- p.100 / Inclusive Model for Diversity of Cultural Market --- p.101 / Weaknesses and Future Suggestions --- p.103 / Final Remark --- p.106 / Appendix A --- p.108 / Bibliography --- p.111

In my thesis, I discuss and analyze William Shakespeare’s utilization and adaptation of source texts within three of his dramas: Henry IV, Part I, a history; Twelfth Night, a comedy; and Julius Caesar, a tragedy. By comparing Shakespeare’s adaption of sources to the contemporary United Kingdom intellectual property policies, it becomes possible for me to determine whether Shakespeare’s extensive and popular dramas would violate modern copyright law. The first chapter, “Printing and Writing in the Early Modern Period,” discusses the development of proprietary interests among the Elizabethan people. I break down the individual components of the printing process in the early modern period and further consider how its creation affected writers and impacted the world at large. Additionally mentioned within this chapter are the United Kingdom’s initial attempts at regulating printed materials among publishers. The availability, pricing, and evolution of printed material is all discussed, as well as the imitative and collaborative writing process among Elizabethan dramatists and poets. The second chapter, “An Introduction and Brief History of Intellectual Property and Copyright,” addresses the United Kingdom’s current legislation on borrowing and infringing upon creative works. After an introduction to key terms within the intellectual property field, I provide a brief history on the evolution of copyright within the United Kingdom. After a discussion on property protection and rights for literary, dramatic, and artistic works, I cite the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as the key document from which I draw my conclusions on Shakespeare’s infringement of source texts within his plays. Chapters three, four, and five, focus on the individual analyses of source texts used by Shakespeare within each of his selected plays. While Shakespeare did borrow from a multitude of source texts, I strive to analyze his utilization of content within only his most primary source texts. Each chapter begins with a brief synopsis of the play, characters, and major themes. After each introduction, I devote multiple pages of text to comparing and contrasting Shakespeare’s imitation and utilization of primary source texts within his own works. At the end of each chapter, I calculate the age of each source text as it relates to the public domain and intellectual property law. Following chapter five, I use the combination of my analyses and personal understanding of copyright to render three separate verdicts on Shakespeare’s infringement of source materials within each of his plays. Alongside each verdict, I provide lawful reasoning for the individual outcome of each case. In the final pages, I draw a conclusion concerning Shakespeare’s infringement of source texts within his plays. It looks like one play clearly breaks the United Kingdom’s copyright laws, one play may or may not depending on further studies, and a third drama clearly does not constitute infringement. Furthermore, I offer a brief commentary on the reigning United Kingdom intellectual property laws based upon my analyses and verdicts.

Created at the end of the nineteenth century, Sherlock Holmes has remained a regular feature of popular culture for now more than a century. However, versions of the detective that have appeared in recent years are strikingly different from the character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, while some characteristics remain similar. This dissertation examines the persistence of Holmes as a function of copyright management that matched shifting literary expectations, following this with an exploration of three categories of discourse in which contemporary Holmes texts participate: feminism, postcolonialism, and neurodiversity. It first locates Holmes's difference from prior detectives in his humanist characteristics and then demonstrates that a restrictive character management strategy shared by Conan Doyle and his sons, the subsequent rights-holders, constructed a base version of the character. When the copyright passed out of their hands, the new owners' more permissive attitudes toward using Holmes matched popular interest in deconstructing characters and ideas, allowing for a variety of new approaches to the detective. The second half of the dissertation explores some of these new approaches, beginning with critiques of Holmes's masculinist, misogynist science that are exposed and repaired through new texts. Following that, a pair of postcolonial texts demonstrates contrasting styles of handling the detective's imperial associations, and a final discussion of Holmes as a neurologically different individual brings him to both neurodiversity and disability studies. Authors' deployment of the detective can contain complex narratives, and while these texts are fascinating the dissertation will conclude with a note of concern regarding their continuing popularity.

Memoria (licenciado en ciencias jurídicas y sociales) / La presente investigación tiene por objeto proporcionar una mirada general a los conflictos y tensiones que la época presente, marcada por la revolución tecnológica y la globalización económica, ha planteado al derecho de autor, y explorar las posibilidades de mitigar esas tensiones introduciendo una lógica de interés público y una lectura en clave de derechos humanos. Se ofrece un diagnóstico crítico sobre la situación actual de esta regulación legal, para a continuación presentar la idea de interés público al modo de un principio subyacente al derecho de autor, indicando los rastros de su presencia en la normativa tanto internacional como doméstica e indagando por su significado preciso, cerrando con un estudio interpretativo de las disposiciones de tratados sobre derechos humanos vigentes que atañen directamente al derecho de autor, el cual culmina con una propuesta original de interpretación de las mismas. En líneas generales, las indagaciones realizadas pretenden avanzar una defensa de la legitimidad del ideal jurídico del acceso a la cultura, como contrapartida de la protección a los derechos de autor.

No description available.

This thesis investigates the problems associated with the development of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). The results of this investigation are used as input for the development of new spatial data policy strategies for individual organisations to enable an improved better facilitation of SDIs. Policy issues that need to be considered by an organisation when developing spatial data policies, were identified as being: SDI requirements; organisational issues; technical issues; Governmental/organisational duties; ownership/custodianship; privacy and confidentiality; legal liability, contracts and licences; Intellectual Property Law; economic analysis; data management; outreach, cooperation and political mandate; and users' choices, rights and obligations. In order to gain an understanding of current spatial data policy practices and to device new policy strategies a spatial data survey was conducted. This survey addressed the identified SDI problem areas. Some 6630 questionnaires were mailed out with more than 400 responses returned. These were reduced to 379 useful responses. Once analysed, the results were compared with the findings of the SDI investigation and used throughout the thesis. The results of the analysis to the spatial data survey are displayed in tables and graphs throughout Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 and in Appendix 2. The tables and graphs show the answers to the questions asked in the questionnaire as a percentage of the total number of respondents. The survey discovered that many organisations had no spatial data policies, nor individual policies on spatial data pricing and/or intellectual property protection. This thesis established that SDI requirements are not being met by many spatial data policies used by individual organisations. Hence, the thesis studied the spatial data policy issues that are involved when an organisation develops new policies with the aim to aid the development of SDIs. It uniquely established current Australian spatial data policy practices in the areas of spatial data quality, access, pricing, and legal issues to form the basis for future strategies. It reviewed the current knowledge of intellectual property law applied to spatial data and devised new approaches to deal with all the identified policy issues. Finally, the thesis defines spatial data policies that facilitate SDI development.

This thesis is a history of moral rights in Australian law. It traces the historical discourse about moral rights in Australian law and demonstrates how that discourse has shaped the meaning moral rights have come to assume in their current form under the current regime contained in the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rijghts) Act 2000. This history examines the reception and later production of a moral rights discourse in Australian law, and reveals that the historical discourse about Australian moral rights was dominated by the three themes; foreignness, international obligation and economic impact. I contend these three themes fundamentally shaped moral rights as they now appear in the moral rights regime. As the history unfolds, it will become clear that the moral rights regime was organised around a specific repertoire of arguments and imaginings, and it is this discourse that informs this thesis. My argument is pursued in three stages. Section One of the thesis provides the historical detail of the moral rights trajectory in Australian jurisprudence, and reveals, within that history, the emergence of three dominant themes, which are pursued in subsequent detail. In addition to the history, this section also provides detailed discussion of the legislative provisions in order to illustrate moral rights as a product of the history, and it highlights some of the shortcomings of the regime and provides some background for the case study in Section Two. Section Two of the thesis interrogates the structure of the moral rights regime by applying the Act's provisions to the case study of indigenous creators, thus providing a contemporary example of how these rights may work in practice, as the result of the historical discourse. Thus this section sets the scene for final part of the thesis, which delves further into the historical discourse. Section Part Three follows the themes of the moral rights debate as they emerged historically. Reconceptualizing the moral rights discourse in this way helps to explain why the debates about moral rights took a particular course and produced the outcomes it did. The starting point for these discussions is a detailed examination of the themes of foreignness, international obligation and economic impact, and follows these themes as they evolved chronologically. In particular, the discussion reveals that the debates about moral rights effectively fall into two eras. The first era (1928-1988) centred around the question of whether Australia should introduce moral rights and the debates about the appropriateness of the reception. At the commencement of the second era (1988-2000) the question shifted to what form moral rights should take. This then provides a backdrop with which to understand why specific discussions about moral rights were sidelined during the years of debates leading up to the legislation; in particular, the subject and the object; which form the fulcrum of a moral rights action. This is an essential part of the history because it explains why the subject and the object came to be imagined and constructed in such a narrow and limited way and clarifies why the moral rights provisions appear manifestly ineffective, particularly for indigenous creators and their communities. This thesis contributes to legal history in three important ways. First, it provides a detailed account of a discourse about moral rights in Australian law, and in doing so challenges the long held assumptions about their reception and production. Second, it highlights the importance of history to legal discourse. Just as regulatory regimes, institutions, and rules are integral to the law, so too are the informal practices, discourses and contexts on which they were based. Third, it reminds the reader that history is a signpost, and this history of moral rights demonstrates that the way this law was derived, imagined and constructed has significance for the social, cultural and legal context in which that process takes place.

For the past two decades, intellectual property law has been the fastest growing and most dynamic field in Indonesia. But, despite impressive and extensive legal reform conducted by the Indonesian government in the area, intellectual property laws remain very difficult to enforce. Ignorance of intellectual property law is widespread within the country and protection of intellectual property rights is both practically and legally weak.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on December 14, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.