This is the long-awaited companion volume to the highly acclaimed Expanding the Boundaries of Intellectual Property, (OUP), 2001. Since then, intellectual property protection has grown ever stronger, and this new book focuses on finding ways to cope with the fragmentation of rights and the complex framework this expansion of rights has created.
Providing a comprehensive and systematic commentary on the nature of overlapping Intellectual Property rights and their place in practice, this book is a major contribution to the way that IP is understood. IP rights are mostly studied in isolation, yet in practice each of the legal categories created to protect IP rights will usually only provide partial legal coverage of the broader context in which such rights are actually created, used, and enforced. Consequently, often multiple IP rights may overlap, in whole or in part, with respect to the same underlying subject matter. Some patterns, for instance, in addition to being protected from copying under the design rights regime, may also be distinctive enough to warrant trade mark protection. Each chapter addresses a discrete pair of IP rights and is written by a specialist in that area. Facilitating an understanding of how and when those rights may be encountered in practice, each chapter is introduced by a hypothetical situation setting out the overlap discussed in the chapter. The conceptual and practical issues arising from this situation are then discussed, providing practitioners with a full understanding of the overlap. Also included is a valuable summary table setting out the legal position for each set of overlapping rights in jurisdictions across Europe, Central and South America, and Asia, and the differences between them.
In this scholarly yet highly accessible work, Eva Hemmungs Wirtén traces three main themes within the scope of cultural ownership: authorship as one of the basic features of print culture, the use of intellectual property rights as a privileged instrument of control, and finally globalization as a pre-condition under which both operate. Underwritten by rapid technological change and increased global interdependence, intellectual property rights are designed to protect a production that is no longer industrial, but informational. No Trespassing tells the story of a century of profound change in cultural ownership. It begins with late nineteenth-century Europe, exploring cultural ownership in a number of settings across both spatial and temporal divides, and concludes in today's global, knowledge-based society. Wirtén takes an interdisciplinary and international approach, using a wide array of material from court cases to novels for her purposes. From Victor Hugo and the 1886 Berne Convention, to the translation of Peter Høeg's bestseller Smilla's Sense of Snow, Wirtén charts a history of Intellectual property rights and regulations. She addresses the relationship between author and translator, looks at the challenges to intellectual property by the arrival of the photocopier, takes into account the media conglomerate's search for content as a key asset since the 1960s, and considers how a Western legal framework interacts with attempts to protect traditional knowledge and folklore. No Trespassing is essential reading for all who care about culture and the future regulatory structures of access to it.
This Handbook provides a scholarly and comprehensive account of the multiple converging challenges that digital technologies present for intellectual property (IP) rights, from the perspectives of international, EU and US law. Despite the fast-moving nature of digital technology, this Handbook provides profound reflections on the underlying normative legal dilemmas, identifying future problems and suggesting how digital IP issues should be dealt with in the future.
This important Research Handbook offers a comprehensive analysis of the intersections between intellectual property (IP) and cultural heritage law. It explores and compares how both have evolved and sometimes converged over time, how they increased tremendously in significance, as well as in economic value, despite the fact that the former mainly pertains to the private sphere, whilst the latter is considered a ‘common good’.
Dealing with rights and developments at the margin of classic intellectual property, this fascinating book explores emerging types of regulations and how existing IP regimes inform and influence the judicial and legislative creation of _substitute‘ IP
Undertaking the global project of improving intellectual property demands a critical and dynamic evaluation of its parameters and impacts. This innovative book considers what it means to improve intellectual property globally, exploring various aspects and perspectives of the international intellectual property debate and contemplating the possibilities for reform.
Intellectual property law is built on constitutional foundations and is underpinned by the twin freedoms of freedom of expression and freedom of economic enterprise. In this thoughtful evaluation, Gustavo Ghidini offers up a reconstruction of the core features of each intellectual property paradigm, including patents, copyright, and trademarks, suggesting measures for reform to allow intellectual property to become socially beneficial for all.
Intellectual Property law (IP) - particularly in relation to international trade regimes - is increasingly finding itself challenged by rapid developments in the technological and global economic landscapes. In its attempt to maintain a responsive legislative system that is interacting successfully with global trade rules, IP is having to respond to an increasing number of actors on an international level. This book examines the problems associated with this undertaking as well as suggesting possible revisions to the TRIPS agreement that would make it more relevant to the environment in which today's IP mechanisms are operating. The overall aim is to find an adequate response to the 'IP balance dilemma'. The theme is pursued throughout various topics, including a look at what this means in relation to economy in a country like China, and also considering how IP is increasingly having to reconcile itself with human rights issues.
ÔAbbe BrownÕs new work provides a welcome and extremely valuable addition of the human rights dimension to the long standing conflict over essential technologies between intellectual property and competition law.Õ Ð Steven Anderman, University of Essex, UK and University of Stockholm, Sweden ÔMuch has been written on the flexibilities available within the intellectual property system to address development and social needs. This book goes a step further: it explores how greater access to essential technologies can be ensured through human rights and competition law. Although the analysis is focused on UK and the European Union, the book provides valuable insights for assessing the situation in other jurisdictions. The author suggests an innovative approach for courts and legislators to overcome, in the light of public interest considerations, the limits imposed by intellectual property rights. This book is a much welcomed contribution to academic and policy debates on the subject.Õ Ð Carlos M. Correa, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina ÔIntellectual property interacts (or clashes?) with human rights and competition law. The refreshing bit about this book is that a detailed practical approach to the inevitable balancing act is proposed. Abbe Brown explains how a human rights approach is the cornerstone of such a balancing approach and how positive results can be achieved towards unblocking essential technologies. And it can be done in the existing international legal framework, even if the latter could be improved. Well-researched, challenging and interesting reading!Õ Ð Paul Torremans, University of Nottingham, UK ÔAbbe BrownÕs study starts from the assumption that IP right owners, particularly those of innovative technologies, dispose of a disproportionate strong legal position in relation to that of competitors and customers, which is detrimental to society at large. Brown investigates how the power of the IP right owners can be limited by applying existing human rights law and competition law. To that aim it is suggested to widen the legal landscape and to develop a more tripartite substantive approach to IP law, human rights law and competition law. BrownÕs study offers a very welcome new contribution to the literature on the functioning of IP law, by stressing the joint role which competition law and human rights law can play in this respect.Õ Ð F. Willem Grosheide, Utrecht University and Attorney at law, Van Doorne Amsterdam, The Netherlands This detailed book explores the relationship between intellectual property, competition and human rights. It considers the extent to which they can and must be combined by decision makers, and how this approach can foster innovation in key areas for society Ð such as pharmaceutical drugs, communications software and technology to combat climate change. The author argues that these three legal fields are strongly interrelated and that they can be used to identify essential technologies. She demonstrates that in some cases, combining the fields can deliver new bases for wider access to be provided to technologies. The solutions developed are strongly based on existing laws, with a focus on the UK and the EU and the structures of existing forms of dispute resolution, including the European Court of Human Rights and the dispute settlement bodies of the World Trade Organisation. The final chapters also suggest opportunities for further engagement at international policy and activist level, new approaches to IP and its treaties, and wider adoption of the proposals. This timely book will appeal to academics and practitioners in IP, competition and human rights, as well as innovation-related industry groups and access to knowledge, health and environment activists.
