Stuart Freen is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Earlier this month, the CopySouth Research Group released a new set of papers that critically analyse the failings and contradictions of the international copyright system.

The papers were presented at the third international conference of CopySouth held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the end of June 2010.

All of the papers examine various ways in which the copyright system impacts on the lives of people in the global South where more than 75% of the world’s population lives. Among the themes and topics examined in the ten papers that are now available: North-to-South cultural flows, cultural diversity, copyright and music (written by two musicians), the Google book settlement, file sharing, as well as various aspects of the economics of the international copyright system and who benefits from its current operation.

The CopySouth Research Group is a transnational and interdisciplinary group of activists and academics from around the world. Their common engagement is the impact of the international copyright system on human culture and society in a global scale.

Among the CopySouth researchers is Osgoode Hall alumni Alan Story, senior lecturer at Kent University and formerly a journalist at the Toronto Star. Mr. Story’s paper critically examines the Google books settlement, in particular how it can be understood in the larger context of access to knowledge.

The papers offer different perspective on the international copyright system and are recommended reading for anyone with an interest in copyright, media or globalization.

The papers can be viewed at: http://copysouth.org/portal/theriopapers