CIPIL Evening Seminar: 'The Destruction of an Artistic Work as an Infringement of Moral Rights - A Test Case for the Ontology of Copyright'

Speaker: Professor Alex Peukert, Goethe University 

In 2019, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) held that the destruction of a three-dimensional installation, which formed an integral part of a museum, can amount to a derogatory treatment of the work in violation of the moral rights of the author. In his talk, Alexander Peukert will show that the decision suffers from a lack of definition what constitutes a “work” in the sense of the right to object to derogatory treatment of work (Sec. 14 German CA, Art. 80-83 CDPA 1988). On the basis of this example, he will outline a general, legal-realist critique of the abstract (immaterial, intellectual) work concept and its far-reaching normative implications.
 
Alexander Peukert has since 2009 been full professor of civil law and commercial law with a specific focus on international intellectual property law at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. He studied law and obtained his Dr. iur. (s.c.l.) at the University of Freiburg (1993-1999). After his second state examination (2001), he practiced law in a Berlin law firm specializing in copyright and media law. From 2002 to 2009, he was senior research fellow and head of the U.S. department at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law in Munich. In 2008, he was awarded the qualification of university lecturer (Habilitation) by Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich. From 2009 to 2019, he was principal investigator of the Cluster of Excellence "The Formation of Normative Orders". His main research interest is in intellectual property and unfair competition law. He is the author of the books Güterzuordnung als Rechtsprinzip (Property as a Legal Principle, 2008), Die Gemeinfreiheit (The Public Domain, 2012), and Kritik der Ontologie des Immaterialgüterrechts (A Critique of the Ontology of Intellectual Property, 2018, English version forthcoming with CUP). For more information and publications see http://www.jura.uni-frankfurt.de/peukert/ and http://ssrn.com/author=1244916. 

Enquiries to: cipil@law.cam.ac.uk