Research interests

Jose's PhD thesis (2009) was entitled 'Copyright in Latin America. Experiences of the Making (1880-1910)'. He is interested in the history of copyright law and trademark law and is currently working on the history of bilateral copyright relations throughout the nineteenth century. He is also writing a biography of José María Torres Caicedo, a Colombian copyright diplomat who became president of the Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale (ALAI).

Jose is the Spanish national editor to the digital archive (together with Professor Raquel Xalabarder from the Universidad Oberta Catalunya (UOC) and Ramon Casas Valles from the Universitat de Barcelona). This is a digital archive of primary sources on copyright from the invention of the printing press (c.1450) to the Berne Convention (1886) and beyond, which can be accessed at Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer. The national editor has responsibility for selecting, sourcing, transcribing, translating and commenting on documents. These include privileges, statutes, judicial decisions, contracts and materials relating to legislative history, but also contemporary letters, essays, treatises and artefacts.

In May 2010 Jose was awarded the 6th Annual Prize Fundación Arte y Derecho for his study on Evidence and Artistic Copyright. The decision of the award was taken unanimously by a panel of eleven jurists and art professionals selected by the Fundación Arte y Derecho (Spain) to the best project in the field of art and law. The prize involved the publication of the book he co-authored with Prof. Arroyo (UNED) and Prof. Gómez (University of Almería).