A Content Analysis Approach to Intellectual Property Research

This chapter aims to demonstrate the implementation of the content analysis approach in the legal discipline; it argues that this approach is suitable for use by legal scholars, enabling analysis of various legal texts to uncover their connection and to learn about their meaning. Moreover, systematic analysing of legal texts yields insights that fine-tune the various challenges policy-makers and decision-makers are facing. This issue is particularly important in intellectual property (IP) research—a rapidly developing and dynamic legal field that calls for an up-to-date legal response to issues emanating from speedy technological developments. Specifically, the chapter sets forth a content analysis approach to analysing the judicial process in the context of online copyright enforcement cases. I argue that this approach facilitates advanced analysis of the legal process in a way that will help us understand and follow the development of the legal norm and contribute to legal certainty, despite the rapid changes taking place in the online copyright enforcement arena.