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"This book seeks to make an intervention into the ongoing debate about the scope and intensity of global copyright laws. While mapping out the primary actors in the context of globalization and the modern political economy of information ownership, the argument is made that alternatives to further expansion of copyright are necessary. By examining the multiple and competing interests in creating the legal regime of copyright law, this books attempts to map the political economy of copyright in the information age, critique the concentration of ownership that is intrinsic in the status quo, and provide an assessment of the state of the contemporary global copyright landscape and its futures. It draws upon the current narratives of copyright as produced by corporate, government, and political actors and frames these narratives as language games within a global political project to define how information and culture will be shared and exchanged in the future. The text problematizes the relationship of the state to culture, comments on the global flows of culture, and critiques the regulatory apparatus that is in place to commodify culture and align it with the contemporary nation-state. In the end, the possibility of non-commodified and more open futures are explored. The State of Copyright will be of particular interest for students and scholars of international political economy, law, political science, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, library sciences, and communication studies. It also will appeal to a growing popular audience that has taken an interest in the issues of copyright."--

"This book seeks to make an intervention into the ongoing debate about the scope and intensity of global copyright laws. While mapping out the primary actors in the context of globalization and the modern political economy of information ownership, the argument is made that alternatives to further expansion of copyright are necessary. By examining the multiple and competing interests in creating the legal regime of copyright law, this books attempts to map the political economy of copyright in the information age, critique the concentration of ownership that is intrinsic in the status quo, and provide an assessment of the state of the contemporary global copyright landscape and its futures. It draws upon the current narratives of copyright as produced by corporate, government, and political actors and frames these narratives as language games within a global political project to define how information and culture will be shared and exchanged in the future. The text problematizes the relationship of the state to culture, comments on the global flows of culture, and critiques the regulatory apparatus that is in place to commodify culture and align it with the contemporary nation-state. In the end, the possibility of non-commodified and more open futures are explored. The State of Copyright will be of particular interest for students and scholars of international political economy, law, political science, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, library sciences, and communication studies. It also will appeal to a growing popular audience that has taken an interest in the issues of copyright."--

Abstract
Using the framework of a knowledge structure as conceptualized by Susan Strange, this article addresses the loss of flexibilities in international intellectual property (IP) regimes and the corresponding global criminalization of IP as serious topics of concern. The knowledge structure of IP frames a very specific type of global political economy. First, Strange's approach to international political economy as it relates to IP is developed. Second, a brief history of global IP as a trade-related issue is discussed, including the current status of the Transpacific Partnership. Finally, some future trends that may suggest global shifts in the knowledge structure worth watching are investigated.

Abstract
Using the framework of a knowledge structure as conceptualized by Susan Strange, this article addresses the loss of flexibilities in international intellectual property (IP) regimes and the corresponding global criminalization of IP as serious topics of concern. The knowledge structure of IP frames a very specific type of global political economy. First, Strange's approach to international political economy as it relates to IP is developed. Second, a brief history of global IP as a trade-related issue is discussed, including the current status of the Transpacific Partnership. Finally, some future trends that may suggest global shifts in the knowledge structure worth watching are investigated.

Quilting is an area of creative work rich in tradition that demonstrates how ideas and inspiration flow between quilters as they share with each other, move to new parts of the country, and develop their own designs. While commercial patterns have been copyrighted, quilting has generally existed under the radar of copyright law, primarily because quilts are most often exchanged within a gift economy. However, as quilting becomes big business and patterns and pattern books are more centrally located in quilting culture, issues associated with copyright protection emerge. This article investigates the relationship between copyright law, innovation, and sharing as it is understood by quilters who responded to an online questionnaire. Survey participants feel that quilting is a creative activity in which copyright plays a very small role, except when it restricts the actions of quilters. The survey suggests that respondents see quilting as creating a connection between themselves, their families, and their communities. Their creative work, in other words, is a gift they want to share, not a product they want to sell.

Formally, ownership of ideas is legally impossible, and can never be globally secured. Yet, in very real and significant ways these limits have been undone. In principle, ideas cannot be owned, yet, undoing the distinction between ideas and tangible manifestations, the distinction which underpins the principle, allows the principle to hold even whilst its meaning is hollowed out. Post-Cold War global network capitalism is premised upon regulatory structures designed to enforce deregulation in global markets and production, but at the same time to enforce global regulation of property and intellectual property in particular. However, this roll-out has not been without resistance and limitations

AbstractThis article discusses Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and in particular global IPR expansion. That globally protected intellectual property (IP) is more valuable than ever must be set against the fact that today's global network capitalism, in which IP is so valuable, also enables information to circulate beyond IP control. Similarly, global IP expansion and its resistance go hand in hand, as global IP expansionist policy contains but also encourages infringement. We document this conflict, the paradoxical space affording it, the boundary disputes that manifest it, and the global IP expansionist policy 'ratchet' designed, but which fails, to contain it. We then evaluate global IPRs and the case for extensions, as manifested in treaties such as ACTA, TPP and TTIP. This evaluation is undertaken though specific examinations of copyright, patent and trademark laws. Claims for the overall social benefit of global IP harmonisation and expansion policies are rejected.