Join us for the launch of Luke McDonagh's new book, Performing Copyright: Law, Theatre and Authorship. (Hart, 2021)
Performing Copyright: Law, Theatre and Authorship (Hart 2021) is an exploration of how copyright law concepts have been developed in the context of theatrical practice and performance. It goes without saying that theatre involves performance, but what is perhaps less appreciated is that law too is a performative mode of practice. The tasks that copyright lawyers and judges perform – often during the theatre of the trial – shape the boundaries of copyright law, which in turn affects the way works of theatre are perceived as objects of property. With this in mind, the theatre world itself presents a fascinating setting for exploring the legal concepts of the copyright work, authorship, joint authorship, infringement and moral rights from an interdisciplinary perspective. These notions do not have a stable, inherent meaning – they are infused with normative content only through the practice, or the performance, of law. As theatre practitioners and copyright owners have made claims, and sought enforcement of rights, legal jurists have, through processes of legal reasoning and improvisation, defined the content of what the law protects. The book addresses several inter-connected questions: who is the author and first owner of a dramatic work? Who gets the credit and the licensing rights? What rights do the performers of the work have? Given the nature of theatre as a medium reliant on the re-use of prior existing works, tropes, themes and plots, what happens if an allegation of copyright infringement is made against a playwright? Furthermore, who possesses moral rights over the work? Utilising empirical interview data gathered by the author, the book provides legal analysis enriched by insights from the theatre field.
Meet our Speakers and Chair
Thomas Poole joined LSE in 2006, and has been Professor of Law since 2015. His research interests include UK constitutional and administrative law, legal and political theory, foreign relations law, constitutional history, law and empire, and the history of political thought. He is author of Reason of State: Law, Prerogative and Empire (Cambridge, 2015) and co-editor of volumes on Hobbes and the Law (Cambridge, 2012), Law, Liberty and State: Oakeshott, Hayek and Schmitt on the Rule of Law (Cambridge, 2015) and The Double-Facing Constitution: Legal Externalities and the Reshaping of Constitutional Order (Cambridge, 2019).
Luke McDonagh joined LSE Law School in 2020. He undertakes research in the areas of Intellectual Property Law and Constitutional Law. Prior to taking up his position at LSE he was a Senior Lecturer at City, University of London (2015-2020), a Lecturer at Cardiff University (2013-2015) and LSE Fellow (2011-13). Luke holds a PhD from Queen Mary, University of London (2011), an LL.M from the London School of Economics (LSE) (2006-7) and a B.C.L. degree from NUI, Galway (2002-05). He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
Luke has published widely in respected journals including The Modern Law Review, Journal of Law and Society, Intellectual Property Quarterly and Civil Justice Quarterly. Luke is the author of the monograph European Patent Litigation in the Shadow of the Unified Patent Court (Edward Elgar, 2016) and the co-author (along with Prof. Stavroula Karapapa of the University of Reading) of the text book Intellectual Property Law (OUP, 2019).
Peter Searles has worked extensively as an actor in Theatre, Television and Radio. His writing credits include the award-nominated Forest People which he co-wrote with Douglas Hodge for BBC TV and Five Smooth Stones for The Bush Theatre; His numerous directing credits include Fibber In the Heat with comedian/actor Miles Jupp.
Peter is best known for his repertoire of comedic one-man shows – he most recently performed his award-winning Edinburgh show Sex, Lies and a DVD (previously titled Sex… with Pete Searles) on Broadway and at NYU’s Tisch School of Performing Arts.
For the past seven years he has worked as a part-time tutor for Skylight Performing Arts at Crisis – running his own courses in Shakespeare, Creative Writing, Contemporary Storytelling and Mindfulness. He is also passionate about teaching others how to explore and better tell their own stories and regularly runs workshops in the corporate, media and entertainment world.
Uma Suthersanen holds a Chair in Global Intellectual Property Law, having gained her degrees in law from the National University of Singapore and the University of London. She is the Director of Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute. She is also a member for the Law Unit of Assessment (sub-panel 18) for the Research Excellence Framework, REF 2021.
Uma has authored and edited the following leading texts: Copinger & Skone-James on Copyright (Nicholas Caddick Q.C., Gwilym Harbottle & Uma Suthersanen, 18th Edition); and Dutfield & Suthersanen on Global Intellectual Property Law (Graham Dutfield & Uma Suthersanen, 2nd Edition). She is also the General Editor of Sweet & Maxwell’s European Copyright and Design Reports. She is currently working on a monograph on Copyright and Public Interest: Comparative and Historical Analyses (Gillian Davies & Uma Suthersanen, 3rd edition).
Her research encompasses legal, socio-economic, and comparative aspects of intellectual and intangible property. Professor Suthersanen has served as a consultant and given evidence to various UN organisations, governmental bodies, and NGOs including UNCTAD, European Parliament, European Commission, and the Governments of Israel and Singapore.
Lasse Burmester is a musician from Germany trained in jazz and classical guitar. He is accompanied by Luke McDonagh on mandolin.