Margaritha Windisch

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Law & Economics at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. In my research, I bring together copyright law, behavioral economics, and cognitive science. My interdisciplinary work is primarily empirical and relies on experimental studies with artists and laypeople to investigate legally relevant questions in copyright theory, authorship, and infringement, particularly in the context of visual arts and artificial intelligence.

A central aspect of my work is making knowledge accessible to teachers, students, and the wider public alike. During my Ph.D., I designed and taught a course on AI & the Law and organized several events in collaboration with institutions such as museums, featuring panel discussions that aimed to bridge academia, artistic practice, and policymaking. I was also invited to panels on copyright law and AI and presented my research at numerous international conferences, workshops, and public events.

Even before my doctoral studies, I held positions with a strong focus on knowledge transfer and public engagement. These include the design and production of the video series Let's talk about Digital Markets for Prof. Christian Peukert (HEC Lausanne, Switzerland) during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the development and editorial management of a blog on digital education for ACPeduWERK. In this role, I also developed the eduWERK Academy, which offers interactive, peer-to-peer workshops and training sessions—by teachers, for teachers—on implementing digital education.

Across all these roles, my goal has been to translate complex topics into accessible narratives that speak to diverse audiences across different contexts. In a world shaped by rapid technological and social change, I seek to create communication formats that invite dialogue, foster understanding, and build a shared language between research, practice, and society.

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Selected Talks, Panels & Workshops

Public Initiatives:

Speaker, Style Inspiration or Imitation in the Age of AI (ETH Day, 2025)
Organization and panel participation, Authorship, AI & Art (House of Electronic Arts, Basel, 2025, with funding from Pro Helvetia)
Panel participation, Copyright in the Age of AI (Avant Première Music + Media Market Berlin, 2024)
Podcast interview, AI: Copyright and Regulation (Podcast Kunstlicht, Zurich University of the Arts, with Eva Pauline Bossow and Sabrina Konrad (Swiss Federal Institute for Intellectual Property), 2024)
Organization and panel participation, Copyright, AI & Art (ETH AI Center, 2023)
Panel participation, Roundtable: Rage Against the Machine? (International Short Film Festival Winterthur, 2023)
Workshop speaker, Film Art in Transition: AI & the Challenges of Copyright (Swiss Association for Film Directors and Screenwriters, 2023)

Academic Conferences:

Workshop on Empirical Methods in IP (Northwestern University, USA, 2025)
European Society for Empirical Legal Studies Conference (Université Toulouse Capitole, France, 2025)
IP Scholars Conference (University of California, Berkeley, USA, 2024)
Conference on Empirical Legal Studies (Emory University, USA, 2024)
Munich Summer Institute (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Germany, 2022)
CREATe Copyright Evidence Conference (University of Glasgow, UK, 2022)
Brownbag Seminars (ETH Zurich and University of Zurich, 2022–2025)

Awards

2nd Place, Young Scholar Recognition, European Society for Empirical Legal Studies Conference (Toulouse, 2025)
Best Performing Teamleader, AIESEC Vienna WU (Vienna, 2016)

Publications

The Economics of Copyright in the Digital Age (with Christian Peukert), Journal of Economic Surveys, 1–27 (2024)
21 for 2021: Copyright, re-use and digital business models (with Christian Peukert), CREATe Blog (2021)

Working Papers

Unveiling the Bond Between Artists and Their Work: A Vignette Study, Center for Law & Economics Working Paper Series (2025)
Laypeople's Perception of Substantial Similarity in Copyright Infringement
Generative AI, Copyright and the Role of Artistic Style: An Empirical Analysis, mit Prof. Stefan Bechtold
Cognitive and Behavioral Perspectives on Copyright Law: Towards a Holistic Approach

Teaching Portfolio

Generative AI & the Law: Copyright, Privacy, Contracts and Compliance (lecturer at ETH Zurich, Sept-Dec 2025)
Big Data, Law & Policy (teaching assistant to Prof. Stefan Bechtold at ETH Zurich, Feb-June 2023)

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