The inclusion of software and algorithms in the scope of patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office has propelled an ongoing debate on the contribution of patents to innovation and economic growth. This book examines the effects of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), namely patents and copyrights, on innovation and technical change in information technologies. It provides new insights on the links between markets, technologies and legislation by applying a variety of empirical and analytical methods. The book also explores the success of the Open Source movement to establish an alternative regime for IPRs by illuminating the rationale behind it and illustrating how Open Source can strategically be used by firms. Initially the book analyzes the role of IPRs by building upon the literature on the economics of innovation and technical change and on insights from evolutionary economics - in particular, the role of knowledge in the economy. It then goes on to analyze the evolution of IPR regimes and IPR policies with regards to IT and software technologies and products and elaborates their impact on innovation. Finally, a series of empirical and analytical models are provided to elaborate the balance between monopoly rights (by patent and copyrights) and knowledge disclosure as an input for innovation and technological development. Elad Harison's book will appeal to researchers and academics of law and economics, policymakers such as the European Commission, Patent offices, EPO, OECD, as well as directors and strategic managers in large software companies.

This fully revised third edition brings a fresh approach to the fundamentals of mass media and communication law in a presentation that undergraduate students find engaging and accessible. Designed for students of communication that are new to law, this volume presents key principles and emphasizes the impact of timely, landmark cases on today's media world, providing an applied learning experience. This new edition offers expanded coverage of digital media law and social media, a wealth of new case studies, expanded discussions of current political, social, and cultural issues, and new features focused on ethical considerations and on international comparative law. Communication Law serves as a core textbook for undergraduate courses in communication and mass media law. Online resources for instructors, including an Instructor's Manual, Test Bank, and PowerPoint slides, are available at: www.routledge.com/9780367546694

This fully revised third edition brings a fresh approach to the fundamentals of mass media and communication law in a presentation that undergraduate students find engaging and accessible. Designed for students of communication that are new to law, this volume presents key principles and emphasizes the impact of timely, landmark cases on today's media world, providing an applied learning experience. This new edition offers expanded coverage of digital media law and social media, a wealth of new case studies, expanded discussions of current political, social, and cultural issues, and new features focused on ethical considerations and on international comparative law. Communication Law serves as a core textbook for undergraduate courses in communication and mass media law. Online resources for instructors, including an Instructor's Manual, Test Bank, and PowerPoint slides, are available at: www.routledge.com/9780367546694

The increasing shift towards digital publishing has provoked much debate concerning the issues surrounding ?'Open Access?' (OA), including its economic implications. This timely book considers how the future of academic publishing might look in a purely digital environment and utilises unique empirical data in order to analyze the experiences of researchers with, as well as attitudes towards, OA publishing. Presenting findings from a novel, in-depth survey with more than 10,000 respondents from 25 countries, this book shows that the research culture of scientific research differs considerably between disciplines and countries. These differences significantly determine the role of both '?gold?' and '?green?' forms of OA and foster both opportunity and risk. Discussing their findings in the light of recent policy attempts to foster OA, Thomas Eger and Marc Scheufen reveal considerable shortcomings and lack of knowledge on fundamental features of the academic publishing market and conclude by highlighting a policy agenda for its future development. Well-timed and far-reaching, this book will be of particular interest to students and scholars interested in the economic analysis of copyright law. Academic librarians and research sponsors will also benefit from the insights offered.

The chapters in this volume are written by international experts from a variety of disciplines, employing a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to issues in copyright law. This volume, and the series of which it is the final part, is structured around the six themes of the AHRC Network on New Directions in Copyright Law, which are: (1) Theoretical Framework of Copyright Law; (2) Globalisation, Convergence and Divergence; (3) Developments in Rights Neighbouring on Copyright; (4) Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Culture; (5) Copyright and the New Technologies; and (6) Copyright, Corporate Power and Human Rights. Accordingly, the volume addresses itself to all those with an interest in copyright, regardless of discipline.

-Thorough and accessible coverage of both law and ethics in the communication and media professions -Can be used for undergraduate and graduate course focused specifically on law, and is also ideal for programs that incorporate ethics into law course -Practical case study driven approach with fresh coverage of international law, social media, and digital communication technologies -Online resources include PowerPoint slides, study guides, and instructor materials

This unique study investigates the path of innovation in the electrical, electronics and communications engineering industries. It presents a holistic, multi-disciplinary analysis of innovation based on case studies of paradigm-changing inventions - spanning two hundred years - which altered the course of the global economy. The stimuli and constraints which control the dynamics of these innovations are pin-pointed in this book and applied to emerging technologies. Roger Cullis tests the analysis using a recent technology which underpins the embryonic information-based economy. He demonstrates that it is possible to use the hierarchical and time dependent nature of the stimuli and constraints he has identified to predict the likely success of a new technological invention. Considering the impact of all factors which contribute to the success of innovations, this unique book will be of great interest to inventors, patent attorneys and intellectual property practitioners and academics. It will also interest licensing executives and venture capitalists, innovation economists and government policymakers.

Federica Giovanella examines the on-going conflict between copyright and informational privacy rights within the judicial system in this timely and intriguing book. Adopting a comparative approach focusing on the United States, Canada and Italy, Dr Giovanella skilfully explores the strategies through which judges solve conflicts between Internet users' data protection and copyright holders' enforceable rights. Using research centred on a selection of lawsuits in which copyright holders attempted to enforce their rights against Internet users suspected of illegal file-sharing, this book analyses the cases and regulatory frameworks concerning both privacy and copyright. Copyright and Information Privacy demonstrates that these decisions were ultimately the by-products of different policy conceptions of the two conflicting rights. Whilst providing a comprehensive analysis of the conflict between copyright and data protection, this book also stimulates the debate surrounding the role that judges have in balancing conflicting rights, and examines their reasoning in resolving such conflict, taking into consideration the process of conceptual balancing. Perceptive and contemporary in topic, this book will be beneficial to both scholars and students of intellectual property, privacy, and comparative law.

This fourth volume in the series contains further exploration of the main themes considered in the first three volumes and brings together perspectives on copyright from law and legal theory, political economy, human rights, cultural studies and social theory. New Directions in Copyright Law, Volume 4, offers insightful contributions from leading commentators on a range of issues affecting the development and direction of copyright law. The volume is divided into six parts. In the first part, the theoretical framework of copyright law is explored through the concepts of the market place of ideas and the public domain. While a number of chapters address substantive aspects of copyright law reform, the second part of the volume contains a chapter that marries substantive questions with issues around the mechanics, limitations and possibilities of the reform process. In the third part, two chapters consider the problematic notion of paternity rights from contrasting disciplinary perspectives. The interface between copyright law and the burgeoning of new technologies is considered through a range of theoretical and methodological approaches. In the fourth part of the volume legal theorists address issues around open access, open source, free software, and the implications of network theory for the relationship between copyright law and the Internet. Moving away from the concerns of so-called 'high technology', the fifth part of the volume considers the equally fraught question of the protection of traditional knowledge and cultural property through an analysis of the limits of law. The final part of the volume, which deals with copyright's uncomfortable relationship with human rights, sees a return to issues around the new technologies with a focus on the political economy of open source software, and on the issue of information access and fundamental rights.

In modern markets innovation is at least as great a concern as price competition. The book discusses how antitrust policy and patent and copyright laws interact to create market dynamics that affect both competition and innovation. Antitrust and intellectual property policies for the most part are complementary, sharing common goals of promoting innovation and economic welfare. In some cases, however, their distinct approaches, one based on competition and the other on exclusion, come into conflict. As antitrust authorities focus increasingly on ensuring that firms do not interfere with innovation by rivals or impede the pace of technological progress in an industry, they necessarily must confront difficult questions about the strength and scope of intellectual property rights. When should private property rights give way to public competition objectives? When is it appropriate to remedy anticompetitive outcomes through access to protected intellectual property? How does antitrust enforcement or competition itself affect incentives to innovate? Leading economists and lawyers address these questions from both US and EU perspectives in discussing salient antitrust cases involving intellectual property rights such as Microsoft, Magill, Kodak, IMS and Intel. Offering a non-technical introduction to this major topic, this book will be of interest to those practitioners and legal and economic scholars who may only be aware of one side of the conflicting views on competition law and intellectual property law. It will also be of interest more generally to schools and universities of law in the EU and the US.

Intellectual property (IP) has become one of the most influential and controversial issues in today's knowledge-based society. This challenging book exposes the reader to key issues at the heart of the public debate now taking place in the field of IP. It considers IP at the macro level where it affects many issues. These include: international trade policy, ownership of breakthrough technologies, foreign direct investment, innovation climates, public-private partnerships, competition rules and public health where it is strongly embedded in contemporary business decision making. Meir Pugatch has assembled an international and diverse cast of contributing authors, who offer new insights into a broad span of the most pressing IP-related issues. They shed light on the increasing dominance of IP in the design and execution of basic and applied research, the evaluation of intangible assets, and the protection and management of knowledge assets, underscoring its importance in relation to national economic development strategies and business strategies of knowledge-based industries and companies. The Intellectual Property Debate will appeal to scholars, practitioners, and government officials interested in the fields of international trade and intellectual property policy, intellectual property law, technology transfer and valuation, and international business.

This second volume contains further exploration of the themes considered in Volume 1, namely the theoretical framework of copyright, and the convergence, divergence and globalisation of copyright. New Directions in Copyright Law, Volume 2 offers valuable insights into developments in rights neighbouring on copyright, such as the EU database directive and television broadcast copyright. It also considers the protection of traditional knowledge - such as the legal protection of folklore, freedom of speech and communication channels. In addition the book investigates copyright and new technologies, taking examples from the music industry and from digital policing. Finally, the authors present views on the tension between corporate power and human rights in the context of copyright, questioning whether it is possible to strike a productive and meaningful balance. With contributions from leading copyright scholars and commentators from a diverse range of theoretical and disciplinary backgrounds, this book will be of interest to all those concerned with the problems plaguing the modern copyright system.

International copyright law is a complex and evolving field, of manifest and increasing economic significance. Its intellectual challenges derive from the interlocking relationships of multiple international instruments and national or regional laws and judgments.This ground-breaking casebook provides a comprehensive and comprehensible account of international copyright and neighboring rights law, from the cornerstone of the 1886 Berne Convention and the Rome Convention of 1961, through to the 1994 TRIPS Agreement and the 1996 and later WIPO Copyright Treaties. It examines how national laws have implemented the international norms, and explores the issues these sources have left ambiguous or unresolved. Ginsburg and Treppoz, two of the leading lights in international copyright law, bring their expert commentary and provocative questions to judiciously selected extracts from cases, analytical texts, and the texts of the treaties themselves, to develop a deeply nuanced understanding of this field. The approach centers on comprehending the international law and international treaties and, rather than analyzing the treaties in turn and in abstract, offers a concrete issue-by-issue treatment of the subject. Key features of the casebook: - Written by two leading authorities in the field - Carefully selected extracts from primary and secondary sources - Build a clear picture of the field - Expert analytical commentary and questions set the extracts in context - U.S. and E.U. perspectives integrated throughout the text to ensure maximum relevance and encourage students to make comparative assessments - An issue-based approach that synthesizes the treaties and facilitates a nuanced understanding - Exposition of lacunae in the treaties, and extensive consideration of how private international law fills the gaps - Leads students through the field from beginning to end.

As one of the most flexible of the intellectual property rights, copyright law is under constant pressure to adapt and expand in the face of new and sometimes unforeseen challenges and developments. This book is the first in an important new six volume series whose aim is to consider the purpose, role, function and future of the copyright system. The book, and indeed the series, comprises thoughtful, critical and often challenging contributions from an international, multidisciplinary network of scholars. It brings together perspectives on copyright from law, politics, economics, cultural studies and social theory in an effort to forge a truly coherent and meaningful agenda for the future of copyright. Volume 1 presents first a thorough re-examination of the underlying theoretical foundations of copyright law, engaging with such issues as the moral justifications for copyright, and the appropriateness of copyright in a globalised world. The book goes on to examine the convergence and divergence of intellectual property rights in the context of globalisation. Bold in its attempt to be original, this book should be read by anyone interested in the future of copyright, regardless of discipline, and in intellectual property more generally.

Although there appears to be no firm legal basis in the Treaties for EU legislative action aimed specifically at protecting media pluralism, this book opens a number of promising avenues along which a viable legal regime protecting media pluralism may be achieved in the EU. With particular focus on broadcasting, the book examines existing (albeit fragmented) legislative and regulatory measures in competition law and other areas that contribute to this goal, and sets forth ways to strengthen monitoring and transparency, generate 'soft law with hard statements', introduce a 'pluralism test' in the EU Merger Regulation, promote more public service media, and foster media literacy. Among many other issues arising in the course of the discussion, the author describes and elucidates the following: various types of integration of media companies and the different ways they affect pluralism and diversity; limitations of must-carry rules and principles of interoperability; the diverging priorities of different European organizations, institutions and bodies; and contradictory lobbying efforts from industry actors. The author places herself on the culture side of the culture/commodity dilemma, showing why it is vital for regulators to preserve media pluralism by counteracting excessive media concentration and safeguarding quality and diversity of content.

This book comprehensively discusses the effects of digital technology on the way work is disseminated and the resulting challenges concerning the fair use of copyright. It also analyzes so-called fairness by examining theories on the system of fair use, demonstrating the "system changes that will be brought about by technological changes" from the perspective of economics, i.e., the problem of modification faced by the system of fair use of copyright. Exploring the nature and function of fair use and repositioning the fair use system, the book proposes a better design for China's system of limitation on copyright and a readjustment of the copyright system. Lastly, in addition to analyzing the reconfigurations of fair use from an economic standpoint, the book describes in detail the interactions between legal systems and cultures.