Op den Kamp on History of Intellectual Propery

There were all subjects of intellectual property lawsuits. The history of intellectual property reflects the history of law, sociology, science, technology, media, and even horticulture. Joining us to talk about new book, A History of Intellectual Property in Fifty Objects is Dr Cloudy opt in camp a senior lecture in film at the Center for Intellectual Property Policy and Management at Bournemouth University. So Cloudie, why did you choose these fifty objects in

particular to represent the history of I P right? Great question, Jurne high Um well as editors, we we commissioned chapters to to the authors that you know, we approached for their specific expertise, and so sometimes we proposed the objects, at other times it was them. But we needed all of these objects to demonstrate a few things. So highlight the actual object, talk about the objects i P story, and then more importantly, perhaps show is larger societal story

and why that possibly still matters today. And so certain objects were clear from the very beginning, right so the lightbulb, the barbie doll, the lego block, they're just such great everyday objects that have interesting i P stories with with lingering meaning. But we also had categories that were clear

from the beginning. So we knew we wanted to have objects that had to do with the relationship between music and intellectual property, for instance, and we ended up expressing um that through the player piano role, the audio tape cassette and the CD. We also have other categories such

as women's history or luxury items. Um. I'd say that overall it was this large puzzle for a long time in which we didn't only try to balance the objects with their contributors, but also with a certain geographical diversity and and for instance, also a more or less fair representation of the different h i P regimes. And you know what, this story could also be told through fifty

other objects. And that's one of the main reasons why we have called this book a history and not the history of I p Let's discuss a few of the objects. So let's start with Oscar Wild portrait number eighteen, a case that made its way to the Supreme Court. Tell us a little bit about that. So, UM, I think that a lot of people might actually be familiar with this portrait, but they might not realize that there's an

ip story connected to it. So this image was part of the series, and it was taken by UM, a photographer UM in New York and Napoleon Seroni in in eight two UM and the pictures were distributed as trade cards before Oscar Wild would arrive in the US when he would do a lecture tour. But then the Burragiles Lithographic company used one of these pictures, this number eighteen, for a hat advertisement. And and the funny detail I think here, of course, is that Wild isn't even wearing

a hat in in any of these images. So we can start to see the larger sort of celebrity cultials UM that were very familiar with today. Seroni then filed a copyright infringering case against this company, and the case, as you said, went all the way to the Supreme Court, where it was decided to extend copyright protection to photography, which which wasn't the case before, and this was of course a landmark decision, as a photograph became sort of

the same as a as a novel. So going forward about a hundred twenty years, we have Mike Tyson's facial tattoo. An exact copy of it was used on the face of actor Ed Helms in Hangover Too. And actually Tyson's tattoo artist had copied it from the Mayori people of New England. This is just fascinating, right, It's it's really interesting that you've picked up on this specific entry because this has been happening quite a bit since since the

book um has come out, so it's really interesting. Um this is of course a very unique object, but it's it's also one of the enters in the book that that sort of questions what an object even is in the context of what we've tried to do. Um So, so a little bit a backstory perhaps here. The book has somewhat of an Australian origin and we wanted it to reflect that. So uh at ten contributors are so um Um you know, are part of Swinburne University, where my co editor Dan Hunter is um the dean of

the law school. But the theme of dan Under is also reflected in the objects, right, so we have the WiFi router, the polymer bank note, the Quanta sky beads, which are all Australian. But we also wanted this this theme of traditional knowledge in the book, and that's where the chapter on on Mike Tyson's tattoo comes in because

it specifically speaks to that topic of cultural appropriation. So Tyson's tattoo artists he sued Warner Brothers for using the tattoo in the film The Hangover Too, which then started this incredibly interesting and and sort of intertwined story of claims of ownership that involved tattoo artists in New Zealand but also in the Pacific Northwest region because they all debated whether this particular tattoo was actually Maori or tribal.

But The Hangover as a franchise, of course, is one of the highest grossing R rated comedies ever made, so this was potentially worth a lot of money, and Warner almost digitally removed the tattoo from every frame of the film before UM it would be released on on home video UM. But eventually the case got settled out of court now, um, just a few minutes here. But an interesting object is also the iconic Chanel two point fifty that you say at handbag, because, as you say, Coco

Chanelle wasn't so concerned about knockoffs. But Chanel today certainly is absolutely the person of two five five, which is named that way, by the way, for um. Its release date of February five is both a highly coveted luxury item but simultaneously one of the most copied once and this sort of interestingly reflects the history of the company.

So she herself, Cocus now released sketches of her works ahead of shows, and she wanted people who couldn't afford her items to to actually buy imitation, which she saw as the highest form of flattery. So as long as they thought of Chanelle, she she was happy. But of course, the current house of Shanelle tries to do everything they can to stop the proliferation of counterfeit goods. Right, um, And I promised myself if if the book does really well, um, I've decided I will get myself a real one as

a as a present. Oh my goodness, what do they run nowadays? It depends on it depends on the material that you're buying, but I would say like maybe five six thousand dollars. Well, you have some really fascinating pictures in the book, and also there are pictures of Fridgitte Bardeaux with this and all the different historical figures as well as celebrities that have that have had that bag. I would like one too, but I don't think it's

coming my weight. Thank you so much, cloud it's fascinating book. It's called The History of Intellectual Property in fifty Objects. That was Cloudy Opton camp Senior lecture in Film at the Center for Intellectual Property Policy and Management at Bournemouth University. Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. You can subscribe and listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. I'm June Brosso. This is Bloomberg