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- All Subjects: Intellectual Property
- Creators: Billingsley, Evan
Description
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.
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.
ContributorsBillingsley, Evan (Author) / Russomanno, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Anderson, Douglas (Committee member) / de la Garza, Amira (Committee member) / Thornton, Leslie-Jean (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
International intellectual property law has become an important factor in international trade as the world economy has become increasing interconnected. The foundational international intellectual property agreement is the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement, negotiated in 1994 and required by the World Trade Organization of all its member states. The TRIPS regime establishes minimum standards of protection, but developed states, especially the United States, continually push other countries to enact more stringent laws. This paper explains the power dynamic underlying this international legal order, and furthermore answers how developing states respond. By drawing on Immanuel Wallerstein’s world systems theory, Alisha Holland’s forbearance – the practice of states with the capacity to enforce laws choosing no to do so – and existing empirical studies of seven East and Southeast Asian states’ actions in the realm of intellectual property law in recent years, I argue that the intellectual property agreements under scrutiny are created and pushed by developed American and Western European states to serve their own economic interests. This is supported by a pattern of hegemonic meddling and threats, often by the United States, seeking to influence the domestic laws of developing states, and as a result prompts those states to pursue policies of deliberately partial enforcement – a prime example of forbearance – in an attempt to retain legal legitimacy under international agreements and drive their own economic development. This stands as a refutation of the naïve understanding that developed states have weak intellectual property protections due to apathy, ignorance, ineptitude, or other such moral failings (as developed states such as the United States have claimed). Instead, developing states are pursuing rational and deliberate legal strategies of partial enforcement.
ContributorsDendy, Christopher (Author) / Sivak, Henry (Thesis director) / Thomas, George (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05