Intellectual property: Social embedding and functional equivalents (C05 [B03])

• Subject Area: Sociological Theory
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 424638267

The project sets out to understand whether ownership of the public goods of knowledge and information needs to be reorganised in the post-industrial economy. Certain access restrictions have become problematic: how are they enforced and justified? What new structures are being developed to control and utilise knowledge and information, perhaps even without the need for exclusive ownership rights? What conflicts emerge when a small number of players profit from far-reaching processes of intellectual exchange? What solutions may be feasible? During the first round of funding, the researchers intend to examine the ecologies of internet companies and online communities to generate empirically grounded, theoretical answers to these questions.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 294: Strukturwandel des Eigentums
• Applicant Institution: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Tilman Reitz; Dr. Sebastian Sevignani