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Journal Name: Prometheus, Volume 17, Number 2, June 1999
Contents
Papers
Technology Paradigms and the Innovation-Appropriation Interface: An Examination of the Nature and Scope of Plant Breeders' Rights
By Dwijen Rangnekar
ABSTRACT
Technological change is crucial for the continued socio-economic development of a country. A number of factors underpin a society's ability to foster continuous technological change, one of which is necessarily the conditions for appropriability. These had become increasingly important since the location of technological change remains largely in the hands of organized research centers housed in large corporations. This paper examines a selection of issues that interface between innovation and appropriability in the case of plant breeding. This industry has only lately become a subject of study, following the increasing industrialization of farm-related activities, the technological restructuring of breeding through biotechnology, and the enhancement of the scope of intellectual property rights (IPR) in plant breeding.
Keywords:
plant breeders' rights, intellectual property, biotechnology, patents, seeds.
The Impact of Visual Communication Innovations on the Film Industry
By Annmarie Chandler, Ellen Baker & Tom Fisher
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the impact of visual networking technologies and communication innovations within the film industry. The researchers investigated companies designing and implementing uses for the new system within the manufacturing cycles of film production. The project selected two case studied, one from the advertising industry and one from a large scale Hollywood feature film, to examine emerging benefits and issues for companies innovating in this area. The research found that this new era of technological change is impacting on international divisions of cultural labour by affecting decisions concerning facility location, collaborative work practices and the scheduling of production activities. The findings identify the number of economic and social advantages for companies who adopt the systems. However they also reveal characteristics about the industry and innovation which would act to inhibit the rate of adoption.
Keywords:
communication technologies, visual transactions, film industry, work practices.
Fascinated by the Future: Interpreting Australian Telecommunications Policy Debates
By R.A. Joseph
ABSTRACT
Rhetoric about the future has been a prominent theme in many areas of discussion about technology and change. As societies enter periods of change and uncertainty there is growing need to deal with the future, This has been the case in the area of telecommunications policy in Australia but this feature of this discourse is often taken for granted or not seen as problematic. This paper has two goals. First, it aims to analyze the significance of discourse about the future. This significance has a long historical precedent but it is intimately tied up with the notion of progress and technology. It has political ramifications since it functions to shore up expectations around specific interests-usually those of powerful corporations and governments. Second, it aims to relate the analysis about the future to recent Australian debates in telecommunications policy. Since many countries have been swept up in the enthusiasm for a telecommunications-based future, lessons from Australia may be very relevant. It is argued that some groups (users and consumers groups) would appear not to have had their expectations met in the areas of competition and universal service,. In spite of this, some of Telecom Australia's views expressed in the 1975 planning exercise Telcom 2000 seem remarkably prescient today. This seeming paradox is discussed in terms of discourse on the future. A future based on an over reliance on technological or managerial determinisms may well lock the country into a future of limited choice. It would be important that mechanisms are established to ensure that appropriate and timely choices can be made in telecommunications policy.
Keywords:
Australia, future, telecommunications policy, universal service.
The Changing Location of Intellectual Property Rights in Music: A Study of Music Publishers, Collecting Societies and Media Conglomerates
By Martin Kretschemer, George Michael Klimis & Roger Wallis
ABSTRACT
This article reports the results of a major study, conducted between 1996 and 1999, examining the impact of the e-regulation an digital technologies on the global music industry. We analyze four negotiations in the process of the bringing music to the world market: commodification, globalisation, delivery, and royalty management. We show that the location of intellectual property rights in the process depends on the mutual bargaining power of the parties involved, within a statutory frame vesting music copyright initially in the author. We describe the forces which have led to the appropriation of rights accounting for 80% of global publishing and recording revenues by only five companies: EMI (UK), Bertelsmann (Germany), Warner (US), Sony (Japan) and Universal (Canada). We predict that this regime will not last and consider the likely future location of intellectual property rights in music.
Keywords:
globalization, information society, intellectual property, music copyright, royalty, vertical integration
Management of Basic Research and Development: Lessons for the Australian Experience
By Dallas Hanson, John Steen & Wayne O'Donohue
ABSTRACT
Management of science and related basic research and development by the state is not a new phenomenon. In this paper, it is argued on the basis of recent Australian experience, that the conventional approach which assumes that the research community is a simple system is deeply flawed. Specifically, it is argued that any pattern of government funding of which assumes linear relationships between funding and scientific outputs is unlikely to be productive. Further, it is suggested that a quantitative approach to research management is counter-productive to innovation. A range of ideas is use in developing a more productive set of policies for basic research and development.
Keywords:
management, innovation, policy, research, science.
Internet Advertising: An Assessment of Consumer Attitudes
By Josephine Previte
ABSTRACT
Given the increasing popularity of the Internet as a medium to convey advertising messages, limited empirical research has been published concerning Internet consumers' attitudes to advertising on the Internet. This paper investigated consumer attitudes to Internet advertising, and specifically focuses on Internet users' beliefs and attitudes about Internet advertising. Based on a primary structure of beliefs and attitudes about advertising, the research identified the existence of relationships between Internet users' attitude towards advertising and their online experience, ad a strong negative attitude to advertising in general and the societal effects of advertising, in particular.
Keywords:
Internet advertising, consumer attitudes towards advertising, advertising research, the Internet, marketing communication.
(This journal is available online: http://www.tandf.co.uk/online.html)
Posted with permission from the publisher.
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