IP Amid Chaos

As with so many things in this moment we, the Committee for Intellectual Property (CIP) and the CAA membership more generally, find ourselves wondering about the fate of seemingly stable ideas and institutions. What threats to intellectual property (IP) emerge in the face of challenges to academic and cultural organizations? How can IP law (as well as CAA’s CIP) respond to rapid developments in AI with respect to fair use? Can we take brash pronouncements about IP on social media as real portents for the future?

This roundtable discussion invites proposals for brief contributions considering IP in art and intellectual production amidst the current chaotic legal, political, and media climate. We welcome examinations of IP cases currently at the bar, feedback from researchers with funding withdrawn or in limbo, and other examples of fallout from this moment of political and technological change. We also welcome long views on whether concepts like “fair use” and “intellectual property” have ever been secure and examples of precedents for our current crises in art, law, academia, and beyond. Together, we aim to foster a critical, collective conversation about how we understand, defend, and possibly redefine IP in a time of unprecedented uncertainty.