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Open research questions in Copyright and Intellectual Property

66 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 1,702 Copyright and Intellectual Property papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Future research could investigate the effectiveness of different methods of marking documents for security reasons. The development of new methods for marking documents that minimize disfigurement and maximize security could be explored.

    The security marking of documentary materials · 1987 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in the consideration of the ethical and technical implications of marking documents for security reasons. The author notes that the whole business of security marks has always been subject to confused and split thinking.

    The security marking of documentary materials · 1987 · DOI

  • The complexity of the Copyright Act. The need for educational institutions to keep records of copyrighted materials used. The need for educational institutions to obtain permission or pay fees for copyrighted materials.

    The Australian law of copyright and its application to distance education · 1987 · DOI

  • The need for educational institutions to understand copyright protection in distance education. The lack of clarity on the definition of 'correspondence course' and 'external study course'.

    The Australian law of copyright and its application to distance education · 1987 · DOI

  • The field lacks a consolidated framework for licensing structures, usage rights classification, and economic valuation of UGC in paid media contexts. Creators often negotiate usage rights without access to standardized valuation benchmarks. Brands frequently acquire broad-scope licenses without sufficient understanding of the cost implications for creators.

    Licensing, Usage Rights, and the Economic Valuation of UGC Assets in Paid Media Ecosystems · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in Cwik's theory regarding the association between material and immaterial objects. The paper also identifies a gap in the understanding of control relations in intellectual property rights.

    Labor as the Basis for Intellectual Property Rights: Against Cwik · 2026 · DOI

  • The study only examines the relationship between IPR protection and domestic music consumption. The dataset is limited to 68 countries for 2024.

    Impact of Intellectual Property Rights Protection on domestic music consumption: an empirical analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • The relationship between IPR protection and domestic music consumption is not well understood. The impact of demographic and cultural factors on music consumption is not well studied.

    Impact of Intellectual Property Rights Protection on domestic music consumption: an empirical analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should examine the effectiveness of measures to prevent copyright infringement and academic integrity violations. Future research should investigate the impact of these platforms on student learning outcomes.

    Pay to Win: Copyright Infringement and Academic Integrity Violation in Crowdsourced Document-Sharing Ecosystems · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of understanding of the growth and impact of crowdsourced academic document-sharing platforms. There is a need to investigate the motivations behind faculty affiliation with these platforms.

    Pay to Win: Copyright Infringement and Academic Integrity Violation in Crowdsourced Document-Sharing Ecosystems · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of research into the role of copyright and music contracts in creating or maintaining intersectional discrimination. There is a need for a feminist critique of IP laws in music. The paper identifies a gap in knowledge about the supposed legitimate uses of NDAs in music contracts.

    Gendered music institutions: a feminist critique of contractual levers of power · 2026 · DOI

  • The challenge of developing effective legal frameworks for protecting individuals against deepfakes. The challenge of balancing individual rights with the need for free expression and creativity.

    Copyright or personality rights? A critical analysis of Denmark’s approach to deepfakes · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of a suitable legal framework for protecting individuals against deepfakes. The need for a more consistent solution than relying on copyright law.

    Copyright or personality rights? A critical analysis of Denmark’s approach to deepfakes · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the understanding of originality as a criterion for copyright protection of photographs. The study highlights the differences between national legal systems in granting copyright protection to photographs.

    Characteristics of Copyright Protection for Photographs · 2026 · DOI

  • The DMCA's notice-and-takedown system has become a mechanism that risks suppressing lawful reporting and undermining the First Amendment. The DMCA's structural flaws have fostered an environment that disproportionately harms news media and journalism.

    Copyright Protection or Media Suppression? The Digital Millennium Copyright Act's Impact on News Media and Journalism · 2026 · DOI

  • Vastly different training durations and exam conditions. High costs for obtaining a driver's license in some countries. Lack of standardization in driver's licenses and driving school training.

    So Long, License! · 2026 · DOI

  • The current system has vastly different training durations and exam conditions. There is a need for a uniform EU format for driver's licenses and driving school training.

    So Long, License! · 2026 · DOI

  • The impetus for this work came from the fact that rights-holders, who are not compensated for the use of copyrighted works and material covered by related rights under the educational exception, desire compensation for such use yet data pertaining to the practices of educators conducting education programmes in cultural heritage institutions are scarce.

    An Empirical View of the Extent of Exercising the Education Exception to Copyright in Cultural Heritage Institutions · 2024 · DOI

  • However, copyright instruction is still lacking in many Information Science programs across the country ( Cross & Edwards, 2011 ; Schmidt & English, 2015 ).

    Information Science Students’ Emotional Response to Copyright · 2022 · DOI

  • Abstract Ebooks have emerged as one of the popular means of reading, but little is known about how ebook usage by the general public and the ability of public lending libraries to serve their patrons are being constrained by various sociocultural factors such as restrictive licensing agreements that publishers demand.

    The politics of ebooks · 2017 · DOI

  • Findings indicate thatinvolvement in intellectual property protection among undergraduates is growing at over half of the institutions surveyed; there is alack of consensus among institutions of how to manage IP generated by undergraduates; and that the resources technology transferoffices have to devote to communicating policy is critical to the manner in which policy is applied.

    Undergraduate Involvement in Intellectual Property Protection at Universities: Views from Technology Transfer Professionals* · 2014

  • It still seems to be an open question whether DRM is a solution to the underlying issues and whether or not the advantages of DRM (for its beneficiaries) outweighs the hindrances caused to the users and to the original aim of copyright.

    Is There a Future for Digital Rights Management · 2011

  • Bootlegging is often aimed at texts that are scarce or unavailable on the open market, and it is typically an amateur, amatory practice—something that mere "watchers" of television did to become "users" of television, Hilderbrand might say, and something that media-studies professors, collectors, and aficionados have long depended on to "take" the filmic and televisual texts that "make" them who they are.

    Inherent Vice: Bootleg Histories of Videotape and Copyright · 2010 · DOI

  • Our estimates are inconsistent\nWe would like to thank Bharat Anand, Gary Becker, Bob Frank, Shane Greenstein,\nAustan Goolsbee, Alan Krueger, Steven Levitt, Tom Mroz, Alan Sorensen, Joel Waldfogel,\nSteven Wildman, Pai-Ling Yin, participants at numerous seminars, and two anonymous\nreferees for helpful comments.

    The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis · 2007 · DOI

  • Contrast this with the specialised scientific and scholarly research literature: The research has been funded by a governmental research supporting agency or a public institution of higher learning and the results are meant to be made publicly available, especially so that other specialists can read and build further research on it.

    How to Fast-Forward Learned Serials to the Inevitable and the Optimal for Scholars and Scientists · 1997 · DOI

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66 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 1,702 Copyright and Intellectual Property papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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