[p2p-research] Capitalism 2.0: Peer Production, Intellectual Property & Juridification Processes Online

[j.martin.pedersen]

Short version: juridification (in this context) likely refers to law's
invasion of cyberspace. Lessig argues that code is law, so law is
already there (if we agree), but, then, should the legal system
therefore fully invade (based on law and economics arguments, as law
tends to be based on in almost all domains) or should cultural politics
(whatever that means) regulate cyberspace? She seems to be for the latter.

I have CC'ed Maureen O'Sullivan, who might have some learned commentary
relevant here.

Background info below:

On 16/07/10 15:48, Michel Bauwens wrote:
> hi phoebe et al,
> 
> does anyone know more about Anne Baron? i'm intrigued by the  juridification
> process ..


She is actually Barron with two Rs.

Juridification: "...the replacing of politics with the formality of law
and legal decisions..." - from:  "The Human Rights Act and
Juridification: Saving Democracy" in POLITICS: 2010 VOL 30(2), 91–97 by
Fergal Davis.

or-

"some see juridification as “the proliferation of law” or as “the
tendency towards an increase in formal (or positive, written) law”;
others as “the monopolization of the legal field by legal
professionals”, the “construction of judicial power”, “the expansion of
judicial power” and some quite generally link juridification to the
spread of rule guided action or the expectation of lawful conduct, in
any setting, private or public." - from:
http://www.arena.uio.no/publications/working-papers2005/papers/wp05_14.pdf

On her website it says that:

"Ms Barron's research centres on copyright and related rights, and, more
generally, the legal regulation of culture and the arts and legal and
social theory. She is currently working on a book on the institution of
copyright – provisionally entitled Understanding Copyright: Explanatory
Frameworks and Justificatory Theories – which brings this research
together with a view to providing a comprehensive map of the
contemporary field of theoretical inquiry in relation to copyright law.":
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/law/staff/anne-barron.htm

She works on some sort of "radical" liberal front - making sense of the
institution of copyright from a cultural (and, obviously, public sphere)
perspective:

"........too much has been made of the distinction, and that the debate
over which paradigm [what Glynn Lunney has called 'copyright's
incentives-access paradigm' on the one hand, and proponents of what Mark
Lemley has called the 'full value' or 'absolute protection' paradigm on
the other] should have priority in determining the contours of copyright
policy distracts attention from a more fundamental issue - the hegemony
of economic analysis generally in organising the conceptual and
normative universe of legal scholars working in this area. Thus while
sympathetic to the impulse underlying the efforts of Lemley and
Frischmann - a concern to resist the seemingly relentless expansion of
copyright towards the horizon of absolute right-holder control of all
uses of copyright material - I argue that their lingering adherence to
the presuppositions of economic analysis has stymied their well-meaning
efforts to account for the social value of 'information' in terms
distinct from the merely economic measure of price. My overall aim here
is to suggest that, because of its presuppositions, economic analysis -
in whatever paradigm it may be packaged - offers at best a blinkered
perspective on both copyright law and the field of social life that
copyright law affects. I conclude by proposing Jurgen Habermas's social
theory as an alternative framework in relation to which critics of
copyright expansionism might fruitfully orient themselves in the future."

From: “Copyright Infringement, ‘Free-Riding’ and the Lifeworld” in
Lionel Bently, Jennifer Davis and Jane Ginsburg (eds.) Inspiration,
Innovation, or Infringement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Piracy
and Copyright (Cambridge: CUP 2010) [FORTHCOMING] - full paper here:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1280893

She does not appear to have published anything on the particular subject
of juridification processes in this context yet, but her name does come
up in connection with some of Teubner's work:

"Juridification of Social Spheres: A Comparative Analysis in the Areas
of Labor, Corporate, Anti-Trust, and Social Welfare Law", who is a
Luhmanesque German legal scholar who has written on the autopoiesis of
law (Autopoietic law: a new approach to law and society, 1988) and laws
without a state - for instance:

Legal sociologist Guenther Teubner argues that “Lex mercatoria, the
transnational law of economic transactions, is the most successful
example of global law without a state ... [but] it is not only the
economy, but various sectors of world society that are developing a
global law of their own. And they do so ... in relative insulation from
the state, official international politics and international public law
... Technical standardization and professional self-regulation have
tended towards worldwide coordination with minimal intervention of
official international politics. The discourse on Human Rights has
become globalized and is pressing for its own law, not only from a
source other than the states but against the states themselves.
Especially in the case of human rights it would be "unbearable if the
law were left to the arbitrariness of regional politics" (Teubner 1997:
3-4).

TEUBNER, G. (1997) 'Global Bukowina: Legal Pluralism in the World
Society', in TEUBNER G., ed., Global Law without a State, Dartmouth,
Aldershot.

Exactly where Ms. Barron can be found in this regard remains to be seen,
but she is not in favour or law and economics as guiding principles, but
rather in favour culture - whatever that then means for her and what
political implications her position entails is a good question. I
suspect that she is mainly/merely academicising on the matter, but in
any case she is questioning and hopefully problematising law's invasion
of cyberspace, which is an important task, academically and politically.


-m

> 
> Michel
> 
> 
> 
> 
> MARXISM IN CULTURE
> 
> * *
> 
> * *
> PROGRAMME FOR AUTUMN TERM 2010
> 
> 
> 
> Friday 15 October
> 
> *Capitalism 2.0: Peer Production, Intellectual Property & Juridification
> Processes Online***
> 
> *Anne Baron (London School of Economics)*
> 
> 
> 
> **
> * *
> 
> * *
> 
> * *
> 
> All seminars start at 5.30pm, and are held in the Wolfson Room (unless
> otherwise indicated) at the Institute of Historical Research in Senate
> House, Malet St, London. The seminar closes at 7.30pm and retires to the
> bar.
> * *
> 
> *Organisers: Matthew Beaumont, Warren Carter, Gail Day, Steve Edwards,
> Maggie Gray, Owen Hatherley, Esther Leslie, David Mabb, Antigoni Memou, Nina
> Power, Pete Smith & Alberto Toscano.*
> 
> 
> 
> *For further information, contact Warren Carter, at: w.carter at ucl.ac.uk or
> Esther Leslie at: e.leslie at bbk.ac.uk*
> 
> 
> 
> 
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