cfp.english.upenn.edu

Extended deadline for proposals - 9 November 2012

This Symposium will explore practices of authorship, creativity and cultural innovation, and how they intersect with law. Do law and policy effectively protect and meet the changing needs of authors and other creative practitioners? How does law itself frame authorship and cultural practice? How has this changed over time, and what lessons are there for the future?

To debate these and other questions, we are interested in proposals from a range of disciplines, including but not limited to law, literary studies, professional and creative writing, journalism, publishing studies, design and the creative arts. It is hoped that bringing these disciplines together will enrich academic debate and legal policy in these areas.

The Symposium will be hosted at the Inspire Centre at the University of Canberra on 17-18 December 2012. Our keynote speaker will be Professor Martha Woodmansee, Professor of English and Law and Director of the Society for Critical Exchange at Case Western Reserve University (http://www.case.edu/artsci/engl/Woodmansee/Woodmansee-index.html)

We are seeking contributions to the Symposium in a range of formats, including but not limited to:
• Paper presentations
• Panels
• Podcasts
• Video and multimedia presentations

Topics for panels and papers may include:

1. Who is an author? What is an author? Who deserves the benefits of authorship? Who doesn’t?
2. What role should law play in regulating cultural practice?
3. Changing practices of authorship and cultural/textual production
4. Authorship in the online environment and the legal implications (could include online news, collaborative writing, mash ups)
5. Comparative international legal approaches to conceptualising authorship
6. Authorship and the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), with a particular focus on exceptions and the Australian Law Reform Commission review
7. Collective ownership and Indigenous authorship in Australia and internationally
8. Authorship, Identity and Personality – autobiographies
9. Authorship and innovation – does the law encourage innovation?

Contributors will be invited to submit their contributions to refereed publication in 2013.

Please send a brief abstract (approx. 300 words or equivalent) of your proposed contribution to LawandCulture@canberra.edu.au by 9 November 2012. Your abstract should be accompanied by a brief bio.