Is Copyright the Devil?

English Spoken

What if copyright did not exist for music. What if there would not be a law that protects intellectual property? What would the implications be for composers and artists? What would the music industry look like? Would the creative sector perish or flourish? Do protection laws slow down the creative process or does it protect the creator? We’ll take a look at other creative industries like fashion or book publishing and how they go about protection of intellectual property. How are their business models based on the exploitations of rights that are protected by laws? How do these other creative industries keep their exploitation healthy? Is there anything the music industry can learn from other businesses experiences?

Moderator: Gerd Leonhard (TheFuturesAgency.com, CH)

Hans Bousie (Bousie advocaten, NL)
Hans Bousie is founder of Bousie advocaten; lawyers in media, entertainment and brands. In music Bousie represents Universal, PIAS, Julio Iglesias, SellaBand. In books they represent most publishing houses in the Netherlands, but also global companies like Springer and Pearson. Hans is both a lawyer specialized in copyright and publishes about the industry with a focus on digitization.

Arda Gerkens (voormalig Tweede Kamerlid namens de SP, NL)
Arda Gerkens was member of the Second Chamber ( Tweede Kamerlid) on behalf of the SP and spokeswoman in regard to the popular music culture. She used to be chair woman of the commission that examined the sustainability of authors rights in a digital era. Nowadays she runs het own consultancy firm specialised in the digital society.