Social Science Research Council

This project mobilizes social research on the role of intellectual property in the emerging global information society, focusing on the cultural flows between developed and developing countries and on the convergence of culture, trade, technology, and information policy. The project has focused especially at three 'problem topics' for intellectual property regimes related to cultural production: piracy, Free/Open Source models of production, and traditional knowledge.

A major objective is to tie the analysis of changes in regulatory regimes to the analysis of patterns of cultural production and flow. This means, first of all, developing better empirical understanding of those cultural patterns and flows. Second, it means understanding the relationship between regulatory change and changes in cultural patterns and practices. How do indigenous groups, for example, adapt to the task of managing their cultural heritage, and does this change their relationship to their culture? Are circuits of licit and illicit trade interdependent? Third, it involves understanding the internal processes of regulatory change, including who participates in them and on what terms.

Research on cultural production and cultural flows can provide a much-needed perspective on intellectual property debates--globally, and through the global lens, regionally, nationally, and even locally. If the origin of these debates lies in the immense growth in the value of cultural production to contemporary society, the end lies--we can hope--in a framework of technologies, laws, institutions, and social norms that can ground an equitable cultural future. How we get from one to the other--and how we make an effective case for that transition--are the twin goals that guide this research project.

In fall 2003, the project held its inaugural workshop, bringing together some thirty researchers, advocates, and other experts on these issues. In August, 2004, the program co-sponsored a 12-day seminar on "Intellectual Property in Comparative Perspective: the Cultural Implications of Technological Change" at the Central European University. In July, 2005, the program organized a two week field inquiry into the impact of copyright law on the traditional arts in Indonesia.

In 2005 and 2006, the project sponsored a series of investigations into the emergence of IP as a field of research, advocacy, and philanthropic investment.

Activities in 2007 and 2008 focus on a multi-country comparative study of media piracy, bringing together teams from the US, India, Brazil, and Russia.

Funding for this work has been provided by the Knowledge, Creativity, and Freedom Program of the Ford Foundation and by the Rockefeller Foundation.