Korea Project Seminar: What is the Reality of Copyrights in Cultural Industries?

What kind of future is there for Europe’s cultural industries? Seeking to answer this question, the ECIPE-Korea Project on Cultural Industries is organizing a series of discussions on the economic and business aspects of culture.

The third part of this discussion series concerns the issue of copyright laws, a contentious topic in recent times. Indeed, how successful has the current copyright regime been in its dual-role of protecting the income of authors and promoting cultural creativity? Although copyright laws were allegedly designed to pursue these objectives, the emergence of the Internet and digital technology has changed the context in which they operate and added complexity to the debate over the function and relevance of copyrights.

The ECIPE-Korea Project seeks to compare the cultural industries in Europe and East Asia in order to provide interesting lessons on the most effective ways in which to promote culture and enhance the competitiveness of these industries. The format for the three seminars will consist of the Korea Project’s members presenting their studies and identifying their relevance for the current debates on the future direction of cultural industries in Europe. Following this, participants will be invited to share their views in an informal setting designed to encourage open and free discussion. Although the studies presented adopt a business and economic approach, their ultimate goal is to enhance true “culture friendly” policies to achieve real cultural diversity in Europe.