You Say You Want a Revolution?

Wanted or not, the revolution has arrived. The scope and exponential speed of developments in the capacity and diversity of information technologies have created – and are constantly recreating – profound social, political and economic changes. What happens when the apparently unstoppable revolutionary force of technological change meets the allegedly immovable object of law? Focussing primarily on copyright, this lecture examines the way in which technologies governing the online world enable the by-passing of long-held legal principles designed by the legislature and the courts to ensure that the governance of expressive creativity is characterised by a socially productive balance of rights. From the saturating power of the big platforms to the emerging collaboration between the big content producers and the promotors of artificial intelligence, all the signs indicate that the principles of intellectual property have given way to private control of the terms upon which we create and engage with the creativity of others. The movement from a publicly controlled legal environment to one in which legal principles are laid down and enforced by large private interests is also a revolution. Unless we recognize its magnitude, unless we focus on legal battles that address big questions, unless we develop a strategic legal counter-revolution, we are in danger of being swept away by it.

Speaker: Prof Fiona Macmillan, Corporation of London Professor of Law at Birkbeck, University of London Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Roma Tre.

Chair: Professor Johanna Gibson, Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law, Queen Mary, University of London

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

More about the speaker:

Fiona Macmillan is Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Roma Tre, Emeritus Professor of Law at Birkbeck, University of London, and Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Technology Sydney. Her work focusses on the role of intellectual property law in the intersection between international economic law and the global political economy. Her recent monographs include Intellectual and Cultural Property: Between Market and Community (Routledge 2021) and Western Dualism and the Regulation of Cultural Production (Brill 2021). A new book on copyright law and theory, jointly written with Dr Henrique Carvalho, is due for publication by Edward Elgar in 2027.