Intellectual Property & Popular Culture (LAWS50128)

Intellectual Property and Popular Culture (IPPC) is designed to offer an interdisciplinary cultural studies perspective on the enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights with a focus on the relevance of an understanding of cultural production and semiotic consumption to legal doctrine. It discusses the application of intellectual property laws to aspects of popular culture such as movies, television, music, books, sports, fashion, and lifestyle.

Contemporary culture in industrialised nations is characterised by a vibrant kaleidoscope of images and spectacles that permeate the fabric of everyday life, influencing consumption choices and political views, and providing meaningful materials out of which people may shape their own identities. It is in a hybrid mode as consumer-citizens that individuals participate to express freedom, choice and identity. The conceptual framework of cultural studies can help one better understand why certain cultural artefacts are universally popular and their significant impact within the environment they inhabit, and more importantly, can provide insights into how the law may respond in the context of this cultural milieu. In particular, this subject will examine the cultural and semiotic significance of celebrities (e.g. Lady Gaga, Rihanna), fictional characters (e.g. Superman, Mickey Mouse) and iconic status symbols (e.g. Louis Vuitton, Rolex).

IPPC uses relevant insights from cultural studies in a pragmatic manner to evaluate how an understanding of the contemporary production, circulation and consumption of such cultural products like celebrities, fictional literary characters and status symbols could ultimately assist in a more nuanced development of copyright, trademark and personality rights laws.

A comparative approach will be adopted to examine cultural themes in cases that involve the enforcement of IP rights to protect the celebrity personality, well-known fictional characters/movies/books/songs and iconic brands primarily drawn from the US jurisdictions of New York and California. There will some references to the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia, but do note that this is not a course on Australian IP law.

This subject is designed for both students who have previously taken modules in intellectual property (e.g., copyright, trademarks) and students who are exposed to intellectual property for the first time.

There is no prescribed textbook for this subject, although students are encouraged to have access to David Tan, The Commercial Appropriation of Fame: A Cultural Analysis of the Right of Publicity & Passing Off (2017).