This project funded by the ESRC and the UK Intellectual Property Office provides for a knowledge exchange scheme which brings together academics (from the disciplines of law, media & communication studies, management and economics), policy makers from the UK Intellectual Property Office (an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) and media businesses (in particular transmedia SMEs) to generate and disseminate new knowledge about the use of public domain works.

The high level aims of the scheme are to contribute to a better understanding of both direct and indirect value creation for UK firms and the wider economy, and thus lead to – better policy making, and more effective use of public domain materials by UK media companies.

The project team consists of Professor Martin Kretschmer (CREATe, University of Glasgow); Dr. Kris Erickson (CREATe, University of Glasgow); Dr. Dinusha Mendis (CIPPM, Bournemouth University); Dr. Fabian Homberg (CIPPM, Bournemouth University); and Professor Paul Heald (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

The project commenced in September 2013 and was completed in March 2015. The final report of the project setting out the findings and conclusions can be found here.