The Symposium ‘What constitutes evidence for copyright policy?’ held at Bournemouth University on 8 November, 2012 was part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science. It was organised by Professors Ruth Towse and Martin Kretschmer as a cooperative initiative between the Centre for IP Policy and Management at BU and CREATe, University of Glasgow with the aim of exploring the concept of evidence as employed in copyright policy making, and challenge the concept from a social science perspective. The aim was to produce an orientation point in the contested debate about ‘evidence-based’ copyright reform. A web resource offers transcripts and short videos of the discussion, an introductory essay, and a bibliography: (http://www.copyrightevidence.org/create/esrc_evidence_symposium) The Symposium took the form of four panels with specific professional and disciplinary groups: policy-makers, stakeholders, social scientists and law professors with an open session to enable wider audience participation. Each panel speaker was asked to give a short opening statement, setting out what constitutes evidence from their disciplinary perspective, using the UK Intellectual Property Office’s guidance document on standards of evidence (‘clear, verifiable and able to be peer-reviewed’) as a starting point for their contribution. Speakers included: Hasan Bakhshi, Director Creative Industries, Policy & Research Unit, NESTA Peter Bradwell, Policy Director, Open Rights Group Tony Clayton, Chief Economist, Intellectual Property Office Prof. Estelle Derclaye, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Nottingham Dr Lee Edwards, Lecturer in Communication Studies, University of Leeds Prof. Lilian Edwards, Professor of E-Governance, Director of the Centre for Internet Law and Policy at Strathclyde University and Deputy Director of CREATe (RCUK Centre for Copyright & New Business Models) Dr Kris Erickson, Senior Lecturer in New Media, Bournemouth University Pippa Hall, Economic Advisor, Intellectual Property Office Dr Christian Handke, Lecturer in Creative Industries, Erasmus University Rotterdam Prof. Paul Heald, Professor and Guy Raymond Jones Faculty Scholar in Law, University of Illinois and Centre for IP Policy and Management (CIPPM), Bournemouth University Tom Hoehn, Visiting Professor at the Business School and Director of the Intellectual Property Centre, Imperial College Linda Humphries, Assistant Director, ICT Futures, Cabinet Office Prof. Sir Robin Jacob, Sir Hugh Laddie Chair of Intellectual Property Law, University College London (was as Lord Justice Jacob in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales where he continues to sit occasionally as a judge) Prof. Martin Kretschmer, Director of CREATe (RCUK Centre for Copyright & New Business Models), University of Glasgow (formerly Professor of Information Jurisprudence and Director of Centre for IP Policy and Management (CIPPM), Bournemouth University) Frances Lowe, Director Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, PRS for Music Dr Dinusha Mendis, Senior Lecturer in Law, Co-Director CIPPM, Bournemouth University Nick Munn, Deputy Director Copyright, Intellectual Property Office Will Page, Director Spotify Richard Paterson, Head of Research and Scholarship, British Film Institute Dr Joost Poort, Senior Economic Researcher, Institute for Information Law (IvIR), University of Amsterdam Andrew Prodger, CEO, British Equity Collecting Society (BECS) Dr Nicola Searle, Senior Knowledge Exchange Associate, University of Abertay Dundee (since January 2013, Economic Advisor IPO) Dr Davide Secchi, Senior Lecturer in Organizational Behaviour, Bournemouth University Dr Jeremy Silver, Chairman of Musicmetric and Specialist Adviser on Creative Industries to the Technology Strategy Board Prof. Philip Schlesinger, Professor of Cultural Policy, Academic Director of the Centre for Cultural Policy Research, University of Glasgow and Deputy Director of CREATe (RCUK Centre for Copyright & New Business Models) Simon Stokes, Blake Lapthorn Prof. Ruth Towse, Professor of Economics of Creative Industries, Bournemouth University Prof. Charlotte Waelde, Professor of Law, University of Exeter and chair IPO Copyright Research Expert Advisory Group (CREAG) Sally Weston, Head of Law, Bournemouth University