Adapt or desist

Cybersecurity expert Chris Monteiro, Victoria and Albert Museum curator Brendan Cormier and patent litigation expert Matthew Jones joined a panel discussion at Ace Hotel that examined the future of copyright, piracy and appropriation.

‘Piracy is forcing the industry to adapt,’ said Monteiro, referencing services such as Spotify and Netflix as being symbolic of a transitionary period. ‘People value content. They want to see it. It’s up to the industry to work out how to monetise it.’

Jones urged businesses to innovate rather than changing the law to protect their products. ‘In the 1980s everyone thought VHS players would signal the end of cinema,’ he said. ‘Then multiplexes emerged and created their own market with a new experience.’

According to Cormier, the issue of piracy won’t go away any time soon. In a presentation he showed how artists produced an illicit digital copy of the bust of Queen Nefertiti and ancient artefacts, and how Ordinary Architecture is 3D scanning whole environments, as illustrated with their Dar Abu Said project.