Course

Law and the Culture Industries - JURD7639

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: 36 UOC of JURD courses for students enrolled prior to 2013. For students enrolled after 2013, pre-requisite: 72 UOC of JURD courses.

Excluded: LAWS8139

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course considers the regulation of cyberspace. In 2008 there will be a particular consideration of future directions for the entertainment industries: Arts, Film, Broadcasting, Music, Gaming and Telecommunications. Innovation and technological convergence creates opportunities for new and enhanced leisure and social activities. These developments raise controversies in the industries affecting old media regulation, intellectual property laws, cultural policy, free speech, content regulation, competition and innovation policy. Regulation via national law reform, international treaties, industry bodies, industry standards, opinion makers, and technologies of control (digital rights management DRM, surveillance, tracking) are considered.


Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

A candidate who has successfully completed this subject should:
  • Describe the challenges of regulation in this area
  • Identify the various pressures on the development of regulation
  • Assess possible future directions and conflicts
  • Demonstrate the above analytical knowledge and skills in relation to a case study

Main Topics

  • Overview of media regulation, innovation policy, intellectual property law, trade barriers, global policies affecting the internet and the entertainment industries
  • Technology as Liberation: the promise of technological convergence, mass access on demand to digitised content, high interactivity, freedom to create, innovate, distribute and trade
  • Regulation by global industry and technical standards
  • Innovation as Regulatory Disruption: Can IP, IT and Media law and the courts keep up with the pace of change?
  • The rights of user generated content: YouTube, MySpace, Blogs, FaceBook, Flickr, MySpace, Wikipedia, Google Library,
  • Big Media content online: entertainment franchises
  • Consumer Rights, Property and virtual property rights
  • Globalisation and information society policy
  • Regional approaches to cultural and telecommunications policy

Assessment

Short essay plan 500 - 1,000 words 20%
Research essay 5,000 words 80%
 

Course Texts

Prescribed
Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer at the beginning of session.

Recommended
Kathy Bowrey, Law and Internet Cultures, (Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Resources

Refer to Course Outline provided by lecturer at the beginning of session.
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Study Levels

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