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Metaphors, Law and Digital Phenomena: the Swedish pirate bay court case

Larsson, Stefan LU (2013) In International Journal of Law and Information Technology 21(4). p.354-379
Abstract
This article uses conceptual metaphor theory to develop the concept of ‘skeumorphs’ (reuse of old concepts for new phenomena) in order to analyse the Swedish The Pirate Bay court case. In line with conceptual metaphor theory, which states that abstract thinking is largely metaphorical, the article argues that this is true also for digital phenomena that, thus, are largely understood through metaphors and skeumorphs. Also, when attempting to understand and conceptualize new digital phenomena such as The Pirate Bay (TPB), law in a digital society is inevitably affected. Hence, new phenomena can be fought over in a ‘battle of metaphors’, in the TPB court case, for example, evidenced by the arguments of seeing TPB as ‘a platform’, ‘bulletin... (More)
This article uses conceptual metaphor theory to develop the concept of ‘skeumorphs’ (reuse of old concepts for new phenomena) in order to analyse the Swedish The Pirate Bay court case. In line with conceptual metaphor theory, which states that abstract thinking is largely metaphorical, the article argues that this is true also for digital phenomena that, thus, are largely understood through metaphors and skeumorphs. Also, when attempting to understand and conceptualize new digital phenomena such as The Pirate Bay (TPB), law in a digital society is inevitably affected. Hence, new phenomena can be fought over in a ‘battle of metaphors’, in the TPB court case, for example, evidenced by the arguments of seeing TPB as ‘a platform’, ‘bulletin board’, or an ‘impure search engine’. This, here argued, was of key relevance for the outcome of the case. (Less)
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author
organization
publishing date
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Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
metaphors, conceptions, skeumorphs, The Pirate Bay, copyright, intellectual property, conceptual development
in
International Journal of Law and Information Technology
volume
21
issue
4
pages
354 - 379
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:84887604100
ISSN
1464-3693
DOI
10.1093/ijlit/eat009
language
English
LU publication?
yes
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id
db8d909c-6e67-4140-babb-3c5b5edaca37 (old id 3954226)
alternative location
http://ijlit.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/4/354.full.pdf+html
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:36:40
date last changed
2022-02-04 08:25:29
@article{db8d909c-6e67-4140-babb-3c5b5edaca37,
  abstract     = {{This article uses conceptual metaphor theory to develop the concept of ‘skeumorphs’ (reuse of old concepts for new phenomena) in order to analyse the Swedish The Pirate Bay court case. In line with conceptual metaphor theory, which states that abstract thinking is largely metaphorical, the article argues that this is true also for digital phenomena that, thus, are largely understood through metaphors and skeumorphs. Also, when attempting to understand and conceptualize new digital phenomena such as The Pirate Bay (TPB), law in a digital society is inevitably affected. Hence, new phenomena can be fought over in a ‘battle of metaphors’, in the TPB court case, for example, evidenced by the arguments of seeing TPB as ‘a platform’, ‘bulletin board’, or an ‘impure search engine’. This, here argued, was of key relevance for the outcome of the case.}},
  author       = {{Larsson, Stefan}},
  issn         = {{1464-3693}},
  keywords     = {{metaphors; conceptions; skeumorphs; The Pirate Bay; copyright; intellectual property; conceptual development}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{354--379}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{International Journal of Law and Information Technology}},
  title        = {{Metaphors, Law and Digital Phenomena: the Swedish pirate bay court case}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3477068/4016196.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/ijlit/eat009}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}