Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. I'm June Grosso. Every
Speaker 1: day we bring you insight and analysis into the most
Speaker 1: important legal news of the day. You can find more
Speaker 1: episodes of the Bloomberg Law Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud
Speaker 1: and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcasts. What did the
Speaker 1: Corset Oscar Wild's portrait and Mike Tyson's tattoo have in common?
Speaker 1: There were all subjects of intellectual property lawsuits. The history
Speaker 1: of intellectual property reflects the history of law, sociology, science, technology, media,
Speaker 1: and even horticulture. Joining us to talk about new book,
Speaker 1: A History of Intellectual Property in Fifty Objects is Dr
Speaker 1: Cloudy opt in camp a senior lecture in film at
Speaker 1: the Center for Intellectual Property Policy and Management at Bournemouth University.
Speaker 1: So Cloudie, why did you choose these fifty objects in
Speaker 1: particular to represent the history of I P right? Great question,
Speaker 1: Jurne high Um well as editors, we we commissioned chapters
Speaker 1: to to the authors that you know, we approached for
Speaker 1: their specific expertise, and so sometimes we proposed the objects,
Speaker 1: at other times it was them. But we needed all
Speaker 1: of these objects to demonstrate a few things. So highlight
Speaker 1: the actual object, talk about the objects i P story,
Speaker 1: and then more importantly, perhaps show is larger societal story
Speaker 1: and why that possibly still matters today. And so certain
Speaker 1: objects were clear from the very beginning, right so the lightbulb,
Speaker 1: the barbie doll, the lego block, they're just such great
Speaker 1: everyday objects that have interesting i P stories with with
Speaker 1: lingering meaning. But we also had categories that were clear
Speaker 1: from the beginning. So we knew we wanted to have
Speaker 1: objects that had to do with the relationship between music
Speaker 1: and intellectual property, for instance, and we ended up expressing
Speaker 1: um that through the player piano role, the audio tape
Speaker 1: cassette and the CD. We also have other categories such
Speaker 1: as women's history or luxury items. Um. I'd say that
Speaker 1: overall it was this large puzzle for a long time
Speaker 1: in which we didn't only try to balance the objects
Speaker 1: with their contributors, but also with a certain geographical diversity
Speaker 1: and and for instance, also a more or less fair
Speaker 1: representation of the different h i P regimes. And you
Speaker 1: know what, this story could also be told through fifty
Speaker 1: other objects. And that's one of the main reasons why
Speaker 1: we have called this book a history and not the
Speaker 1: history of I p Let's discuss a few of the objects.
Speaker 1: So let's start with Oscar Wild portrait number eighteen, a
Speaker 1: case that made its way to the Supreme Court. Tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit about that. So, UM, I think
Speaker 1: that a lot of people might actually be familiar with
Speaker 1: this portrait, but they might not realize that there's an
Speaker 1: ip story connected to it. So this image was part
Speaker 1: of the series, and it was taken by UM, a
Speaker 1: photographer UM in New York and Napoleon Seroni in in
Speaker 1: eight two UM and the pictures were distributed as trade
Speaker 1: cards before Oscar Wild would arrive in the US when
Speaker 1: he would do a lecture tour. But then the Burragiles
Speaker 1: Lithographic company used one of these pictures, this number eighteen,
Speaker 1: for a hat advertisement. And and the funny detail I
Speaker 1: think here, of course, is that Wild isn't even wearing
Speaker 1: a hat in in any of these images. So we
Speaker 1: can start to see the larger sort of celebrity cultials
Speaker 1: UM that were very familiar with today. Seroni then filed
Speaker 1: a copyright infringering case against this company, and the case,
Speaker 1: as you said, went all the way to the Supreme Court,
Speaker 1: where it was decided to extend copyright protection to photography,
Speaker 1: which which wasn't the case before, and this was of
Speaker 1: course a landmark decision, as a photograph became sort of
Speaker 1: the same as a as a novel. So going forward
Speaker 1: about a hundred twenty years, we have Mike Tyson's facial tattoo.
Speaker 1: An exact copy of it was used on the face
Speaker 1: of actor Ed Helms in Hangover Too. And actually Tyson's
Speaker 1: tattoo artist had copied it from the Mayori people of
Speaker 1: New England. This is just fascinating, right, It's it's really
Speaker 1: interesting that you've picked up on this specific entry because
Speaker 1: this has been happening quite a bit since since the
Speaker 1: book um has come out, so it's really interesting. Um
Speaker 1: this is of course a very unique object, but it's
Speaker 1: it's also one of the enters in the book that
Speaker 1: that sort of questions what an object even is in
Speaker 1: the context of what we've tried to do. Um So,
Speaker 1: so a little bit a backstory perhaps here. The book
Speaker 1: has somewhat of an Australian origin and we wanted it
Speaker 1: to reflect that. So uh at ten contributors are so
Speaker 1: um Um you know, are part of Swinburne University, where
Speaker 1: my co editor Dan Hunter is um the dean of
Speaker 1: the law school. But the theme of dan Under is
Speaker 1: also reflected in the objects, right, so we have the
Speaker 1: WiFi router, the polymer bank note, the Quanta sky beads,
Speaker 1: which are all Australian. But we also wanted this this
Speaker 1: theme of traditional knowledge in the book, and that's where
Speaker 1: the chapter on on Mike Tyson's tattoo comes in because
Speaker 1: it specifically speaks to that topic of cultural appropriation. So
Speaker 1: Tyson's tattoo artists he sued Warner Brothers for using the
Speaker 1: tattoo in the film The Hangover Too, which then started
Speaker 1: this incredibly interesting and and sort of intertwined story of
Speaker 1: claims of ownership that involved tattoo artists in New Zealand
Speaker 1: but also in the Pacific Northwest region because they all
Speaker 1: debated whether this particular tattoo was actually Maori or tribal.
Speaker 1: But The Hangover as a franchise, of course, is one
Speaker 1: of the highest grossing R rated comedies ever made, so
Speaker 1: this was potentially worth a lot of money, and Warner
Speaker 1: almost digitally removed the tattoo from every frame of the
Speaker 1: film before UM it would be released on on home
Speaker 1: video UM. But eventually the case got settled out of
Speaker 1: court now, um, just a few minutes here. But an
Speaker 1: interesting object is also the iconic Chanel two point fifty
Speaker 1: that you say at handbag, because, as you say, Coco
Speaker 1: Chanelle wasn't so concerned about knockoffs. But Chanel today certainly
Speaker 1: is absolutely the person of two five five, which is
Speaker 1: named that way, by the way, for um. Its release
Speaker 1: date of February five is both a highly coveted luxury
Speaker 1: item but simultaneously one of the most copied once and
Speaker 1: this sort of interestingly reflects the history of the company.
Speaker 1: So she herself, Cocus now released sketches of her works
Speaker 1: ahead of shows, and she wanted people who couldn't afford
Speaker 1: her items to to actually buy imitation, which she saw
Speaker 1: as the highest form of flattery. So as long as
Speaker 1: they thought of Chanelle, she she was happy. But of course,
Speaker 1: the current house of Shanelle tries to do everything they
Speaker 1: can to stop the proliferation of counterfeit goods. Right, um,
Speaker 1: And I promised myself if if the book does really well, um,
Speaker 1: I've decided I will get myself a real one as
Speaker 1: a as a present. Oh my goodness, what do they
Speaker 1: run nowadays? It depends on it depends on the material
Speaker 1: that you're buying, but I would say like maybe five
Speaker 1: six thousand dollars. Well, you have some really fascinating pictures
Speaker 1: in the book, and also there are pictures of Fridgitte
Speaker 1: Bardeaux with this and all the different historical figures as
Speaker 1: well as celebrities that have that have had that bag.
Speaker 1: I would like one too, but I don't think it's
Speaker 1: coming my weight. Thank you so much, cloud it's fascinating book.
Speaker 1: It's called The History of Intellectual Property in fifty Objects.
Speaker 1: That was Cloudy Opton camp Senior lecture in Film at
Speaker 1: the Center for Intellectual Property Policy and Management at Bournemouth University.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. You can
Speaker 1: subscribe and listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud
Speaker 1: and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. I'm June Brosso.
Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg