SME Partner

Nadia-Anne Ricketts, Beatwoven

Academic Partner

Dr Noam Shemtov, Queen Mary University of London

Project

The BOOST follow on funding to the fourth round Creative Voucher allowed Nadia-Anne Ricketts of BeatWoven to develop her coding/software design to create an App to allow people to interact, personalise, upload their own music, see the patterns playing and create their own patterns to be woven. In turn the App will be one of the first components to my future project of creating London’s first BeatWoven digital mini mill.

The project participants built on their previous legal research with more complex intellectual property questions, producing a legal research document that could help future businesses facing similar issues. This including the inspection of the envisaged business model and how it might be put to effect without seeking authorisation of music right holders. Nadia-Anne need to understand how her business plan might be affected by the source of the music played by the users of the App? What might be the potential liability of BeatWoven as facilitating such use by the App users? Where the said business model and App design could be put into effect without seeking the authorisation of the right holders (mainly involving copyright law), licensing, and BeatWoven’s freedom to describe the nature of its products and the circumstances under-which it might be possible to do so? I.e. Musician trademarks. The project team sought to research the marketing and communication to the public of facets of BeatWoven’s business model by examining free commercial speech in describing a fundamental characteristic of goods or services, and the potential impact of this on marketing and communication strategies of BeatWoven.

Of the initial collaboration, Nadia-Anne claimed that it is possible that without CWL BeatWoven may have never found the answers to the obstacles it faced and could not exist today. It has been crucial. Nadia-Anne’s business would not have developed as it has without the legal expertise offered by Noam Shemtov; prior to learning of CWL she felt that she could only get the expertise she needed by seeking out a lawyer who charged by the hour. The realization that she could get funding to work with a researcher who would benefit from helping her unravel her legal tangle was game changing.  Since the initial collaboration, BeatWoven received commissions from The Southbank Centre and London Philharmonic Orchestra, worked with Harrods on an exclusive collection for London Design Week 2014 and was showcased as a Future Heritage project at Decorex International 2014 and at Future Artefacts 2015. Noam Shemtov researched many legal cases and wrote a detailed paper (since published) using BeatWoven’s copyright issues as a case study.  He also provided his legal expertise and advice, allow Nadia-Anne to continue with professional business contracts with complete assurance that her practice has makes no copyright infringements. Since working with Creativeworks London, BeatWoven has grown as a brand and moved to the next level, with new clients and more business, thus more turnover with the potential for new staff. BeatWoven is creating an exciting talking point among the industry, gaining press through its developing profile. It is Nadia-Anne’s hope that this project is the first piece of the puzzle towards her ‘Mini-Mill’, which will free up ‘HUGE manufacturing issues caused by an aged and threatened UK weaving industry, bringing digital weaving alongside 3D printing.’