Intellectual property rights behind bars

This article investigates the conditions under which intellectual property rights are created in prison as well as the possibilities inmates are given to exercise these rights. The article adopts a predominantly Swedish perspective, while it also refers to illustrative examples of cases of creative works created behind bars in US prisons. The two penitentiary systems differ considerably, but there are some interesting conclusions to be drawn from the US experience and some unexpected similarities that may be noted in the way copyright protected works made in prison are treated. The article discusses, in its first part, the evolution of the penitentiary system in Sweden and the regulation of penal work and leisure times activities. The copyright system is briefly presented with a focus on the way copyright operates when the author is an inmate. Furthermore, the article provides illustrations of prison programmes that have resulted in the creation of copyright-protected works in the US, and how the US legal system has dealt with the question of copyright ownership of works created by inmates. Turning back to Sweden, the article reflects on the two writing programmes that have recently led to book publications authored by inmates, as well as on the fate of the ‘made in prison’ branded products. The article investigates yet another project, the Krimtech project that concerns other forms of inmate input to intellectual property, namely, the collection of data. The Foucauldian theory provides a theoretical umbrella under which the discrepancies between the copyright-law principle of equality of authors, and the actual practical implementation as well as the impact prison regulation has in this respect is discussed and analysed.