There is a common perception that digitisation has prompted changes in creative labour markets. In particular, it is widely assumed that exploiters insist on "grabbing rights" (i.e. broadly conceived assignments of rights), that visual artists are not able to negotiate, that they are paid less...

Preface: In 1776, Adam Smith diagnosed an oversupply in “that unprosperous race of men” called men of letters: “…their numbers are every-where so great as commonly to reduce the price of their labour to a very paltry recompense.” (The Wealth of Nations, Book I, Ch. 10) By the...

It is one of the orthodoxies of modern copyright law that the enjoyment and the exercise of the rights granted "shall not be subject to any formality" (Berne Convention 1886, Berlin revision 1908, Art.4), such as a registration requirement. In this article, we trace the origins of this provision...

Platforms have emerged as a new kind of regulatory object over a short period of time. There is accelerating global regulatory competition to conceptualise and govern online platforms in response to social, economic and political discontent – articulated in terms such as ‘fake news’,...