Communicating Copyright: An Exploration of Copyright Discourses in the Digital Age
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Institute of Communication Studies
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
Publications
Edwards L
(2012)
Framing the consumer Copyright regulation and the public
in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
Edwards L
(2014)
Discourse, justification and critique: towards a legitimate digital copyright regime?
in International Journal of Cultural Policy
Edwards L
(2015)
The SAGE Handbook of Intellectual Property
Edwards L
(2013)
'Isn't it just a way to protect Walt Disney's rights?': Media user perspectives on copyright
in New Media & Society
| Description | The project considered modern copyright debates as involving a range of implicit and explicit justifications communicated by government, industry, artists and users. In order to explore the communication strategies and justifications employed in industry and government discourses, PR, marketing, and educational campaigns of rights holders and alternative messages circulated in the public sphere by campaign groups were examined. User perspectives were analysed as sources of legitimate perspectives that could contribute to conversations about media, creativity and regulation. Findings illustrated how discourse plays a strategic role in promoting the interests of particular social groups and how justifications frequently draw on more general principles that transcend specific interests and extend the scope for contestation. Users offered complex, rational and cynical justifications of digital media activities, challenging superficial characterisations of users and demonstrating the value of users' voices in policymaking processes. This project has contributed new ways of thinking about copyright through both theoretical and methodological interventions. Through its theoretical positioning of copyright in terms of the sociology of justification and discursive processes of legitimation, the project shifts the focus from the efficacy of regulation and legal challenges of copyright to the power struggles that underpin debates about copyright and attendant policy development. The deployment of discourse analysis allows for how rights holders in the film, music, and television industries have used discourse in order to legitimate and further their position in the digital copyright debate. Analysis of focus groups offers a portrait of the range of claims expressed by users and provides a space for user voices - largely absent or superficial in industry, policy and academic research - to be heard. |
| Exploitation Route | As well as the three articles and book chapter which emerged from the research, a book drawing on the research (Understanding Copyright: Intellectual Property in the Digital Age) was published in 2015. We anticipate that the book will become a key resource for students and scholars of copyright. We hope that the findings and publications will also contribute to future policy debates on copyright. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | Invited talk at Sage Handbook of Intellectual Property Symposium, Durham University: Communicating Copyright: Discourse and Disagreement in the Digital Age |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | This talk was presented at a symposium on intellectual property in Durham, UK, involving contributors to the forthcoming Sage Handbook of Intellectual Property. A brief outline of the chapter based on the Communicating Copyright project was presented. The chapter considers modern copyright debates as involving a range of implicit and explicit justifications communicated by government, industry, artists and users. It was a valuable opportunity for scholars from around the world and different disciplines to come together. As a result of the symposium, the Handbook to which presenters have contributed reflect hangs together more naturally in terms of themes covered than other similar volumes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Invited talk at the CREATe Researchers Conference and Empirical Capacity Building Event: Communicating Copyright Project: Methodological Reflections |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | The paper introduced the methods of the Communicating Copyright project and discussed the methodological choices. It was followed by Q&A and discussion. The talk led to stronger collaborative ties with CREATe. The project was added to CREATe's 'associated projects', for example. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Invited talk at the Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies, University of Sunderland: 'Isn't it just a way to protect Walt Disney's rights?': media user perspectives on copyright |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | With digitisation allowing for faster and easier sharing and copying of media, the behaviour and attitudes of everyday users of copyrighted material have become an increasing focus of policy, industry and academic attention. This talk connected historical characterisations of copyright infringement and the role of the public interest in the development of copyright law and policy with the complex experience of modern, ordinary users of digital media. Users were proposed not as transgressors to be educated, regulated or scared straight, nor as a hazy and largely silent public, but as sources of legitimate perspectives that could contribute to conversations about media, creativity and regulation. The talk was followed by a valuable discussion among colleagues researching in similar and related areas. After the talk, I have continued to stay in contact with researchers in the department. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Invited talk at the Music Research Seminar Series, University of Edinburgh: Out of tune: music copyright and the public |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | This invited talk considered cases of music licensing, sampling and downloading that have encouraged users to engage in debate and discussion about copyright. Moments of disjuncture between popular opinion and law offer an opportunity to explore the ideologies, myths and politics that provide the basis of modern copyright and to involve users in the usually mysterious process of media policy formation. It was followed by Q&A and discussion. I have kept in contact with researchers in the department with related interests. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Organised event at RSA House: Copyright in the digital age: what users say and do about intellectual property |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A half-day seminar was held at RSA House in London for policymakers, consumer group members, researchers and industry workers, reflecting on the results of the Communicating Copyright project. As well as a presentation of the research findings, the programme included an opening keynote from Professor Ian Hargreaves, Chair of Digital Economy at Cardiff University and author of Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth; a keynote response by Jim Killock, Chair of Open Rights Group; a talk from John McVay, Chief Executive of Pact (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) and Deputy Chair, Creative Coalition Campaign; and closing remarks from Helen Goodman MP, who considered implications of the research for the future of policymaking. Representatives from government bodies and parliament (IPO, Ofcom, Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport) and relevant companies and organisations (BBC, ITV, Google, HarperCollins, Warner Music and the British Library) attended the organised event. The research team has received follow-up inquiries from multiple delegates and Helen Goodman MP noted that the research had convinced her to move forward with a consultation with young people about the implementation of the Digital Economy Act 2010. The research has been commended by public policy organisations such as the Open Rights Group, and has coincided with related policy research into user behaviour, such as Ofcom's 2012 report on copyright infringing behaviour. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |