Catherine Fisk is Chancellor’s Professor of Law in the School of Law at University of California-Irvine and author of Working Knowledge: Employee Innovation and the Rise of Corporate Intellectual Property, 1800-1930. In her talk, “Authors Anonymous,” Fisk contrasted the norms of attribution in twentieth century advertising -- where content creators received no credit -- with that of motion picture and television writing – where agreements with the National Writers Guild required public recognition to writers for their activities.

In his talk "Brands in Chains," Paul Duguid challenged the general assumption that wars between companies’ brands (such as Pepsi vs. Coke, or Apple vs. Samsung) only take place between these competing firms. Drawing on historical evidence, his presentation argued these conflicts also play out along the supply chains used to create particular branded products. This "vertical" relationship among brands draws attention to the "certification" role that brands can play inside of other products (e.g., if it has "Intel inside" on the outside or if the device runs on an Android operating system, you can trust it, whomever the manufacturer might be). Drawing together these reappraisals of standard brand history, Duguid asks if brands not only provide information (as economists argue) but also play an intriguing role concealing some information as well.

Lectures delivered at "Historicizing Intellectual Property: A Symposium" at the Hagley Museum and Library on May 16th 2013:

Recordings are available for non-profit and educational use only by the Hagley Museum and Library. If you have any questions, please contact us at Ask Hagley