D4.7 Report on negative space of EU creative industries

Task 4.2 – titled New business models in the European creative industries – includes three subtasks. These sub-tasks deal with (i) examining business models of small and micro creative enterprises (Subtask 4.2.1), (ii) studying negative intellectual property spaces in the European context (Subtask 4.2.2), and (iii) analysing the impact of creative hubs on gentrification processes (Subtask 4.2.3). This report outlines the results of Subtask 4.2.2.

This report is divided into two main parts:

Part 1 provides a theoretical framework to the study of negative intellectual property. Part 2 presents the results of two case studies. Part 1 provides the theoretical foundation for the empirical analysis presented in Part 2. The section starts with introducing the concept of negative IP space. As the extant literature on negative IP spaces has mainly focussed on case studies, we develop a systematic assessment of the empirical evidence provided in this literature to develop a thorough theoretical framework for our empirical research. This assessment develops a systematic analysis of the sectors that have so far been considered negative intellectual property spaces. This analysis makes it possible to identify a new taxonomy of intellectual property spaces, and to elaborate on the structural elements that characterise negative IP. The discussion provides the theoretical premise for the identification of the two case studies presented in Part 2.

Part 2 outlines the results of our empirical research. Section 2.1 shows the preliminary results of a study on Italian haute cuisine chefs. As chefs are one of the first community of creators where informal systems of intellectual property have been documented, this section opens with a review of the literature on haute cuisine as a negative IP space.

Section 2.1.1 outlines the methodology adopted for this case study. We designed a survey which was distributed to all 1901 restaurants included in the 2022 Michelin Guide of Italian restaurants. Together with our research questions, this section outlines the different research strategies adopted in our survey. As the data collection is in progress, Section 2.1.2 presents preliminary results. By investigating a sector that has already been studied in the literature of negative IP, our research seeks to ask new questions and to bring new perspectives to a consolidated scholarly debate. Section 2.2 presents our research on the industry of academic book publishing. While Section 2.1 discusses a sector which has long been considered a negative IP space, this second case study asks whether academic book publishing is an industry that is transitioning towards a low-IP equilibrium. We ask this question because – as shown in D2.8 – the use of copyright-infringing platforms has become increasingly widespread among researchers. For this case study, we elaborate on evidence gathered with a series of semi-structured interviews to industry professionals. Studying academic book publishing from the angle of negative IP provides interesting insights into an industry that is currently undergoing deep transformations. The case study reports the issues and criticisms raised by industry professionals, analyses changes in current business models, and presents emerging practices.