[Discussion] CFP: Copyright and Its Discontents (3/20/04; MLA '04)

[sule tarakcioglu]

CFP: Intellectual Property and Its Discontents (3/20/04; MLA)


Proposed Special Session for the MLA '04 in Philadelphia, Dec. 27-30, 2004.


This panel seeks papers that examine the shape of copyright and
intellectual property today. In the last twenty years, the claims and
boundaries of intellectual property, especially copyright, have come 
under pressure from several directions, including legal, commercial, 
theoretical, and not least from fields removed from literary discourse, 
such as the computer and drug industries. Further, in the last ten 
years, copy technology and the Internet have irrevocably changed the 
force of copyright and intellectual property. The changes go well beyond 
the anxiety faced by those wanting to photocopy a book (or sections of 
it) for a class. They more deeply extend to the creation and 
distribution via the Internet of software programs, music, videos, 
etc.--all that can be packaged into digital form.

In other fields, similar forces have challenged the liberal claims of
copyright and intellectual property.

Process of declaring intellectual property.

what happens when someone declares that your person is copyrightable?


Papers  that touch on the issue in any interesting way are welcome, and 
the hope is that a range of perspectives can be included. I am however
especially interested in these areas:

    * Theoretical examinations of what counts as intellectual property
    * Geo-political Examinations of Open Source/Free Software
    * Authorship:

Please send a 250-wd abstract by email not later than 20 March 2004 to
Louis Suarez-Potts at luispo@mac.com .