Central American countries have long defined health as a human right. But in recent years regional trade agreements have ushered in aggressive intellectual property reforms, undermining this conception. Questions of IP and health provisions are pivotal to both human rights advocacy and "free" trade policy, and as this book chronicles, complex political battles have developed across the region.
Looking at events in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala, Angelina Godoy argues that human rights advocates need to approach intellectual property law as more than simply a roster of regulations. IP represents the cutting edge of a global tendency to value all things in market terms: Life forms--from plants to human genetic sequences--are rendered commodities, and substances necessary to sustain life--medicines--are restricted to insure corporate profits. If we argue only over the terms of IP protection without confronting the underlying logic governing our trade agreements, then human rights advocates will lose even when they win.

When data from all aspects of our lives can be relevant to our health - from our habits at the grocery store and our Google searches to our FitBit data and our medical records - can we really differentiate between big data and health big data? Will health big data be used for good, such as to improve drug safety, or ill, as in insurance discrimination? Will it disrupt health care (and the health care system) as we know it? Will it be possible to protect our health privacy? What barriers will there be to collecting and utilizing health big data? What role should law play, and what ethical concerns may arise? This timely, groundbreaking volume explores these questions and more from a variety of perspectives, examining how law promotes or discourages the use of big data in the health care sphere, and also what we can learn from other sectors.

In the European Union, courts have been expanding the enforcement of intellectual property rights by employing injunctions to compel intermediaries to provide assistance, despite no allegation of wrongdoing against these parties. These prospective injunctions, designed to prevent future harm, thus hold parties accountable where no liability exists. Effectively a new type of regulatory tool, these injunctions are distinct from the conventional secondary liability in tort. At present, they can be observed in orders to compel website blocking, content filtering, or disconnection, but going forward, their use is potentially unlimited. This book outlines the paradigmatic shift this entails for the future of the Internet and analyzes the associated legal and economic opportunities and problems.

The free exchange of microbial genetic information is an established public good, facilitating research on medicines, agriculture, and climate change. However, over the past quarter-century, access to genetic resources has been hindered by intellectual property claims from developed countries under the World Trade Organization's TRIPS Agreement (1994) and by claims of sovereign rights from developing countries under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (1992). In this volume, the authors examine the scientific community's responses to these obstacles and advise policymakers on how to harness provisions of the Nagoya Protocol (2010) that allow multilateral measures to support research. By pooling microbial materials, data, and literature in a carefully designed transnational e-infrastructure, the scientific community can facilitate access to essential research assets while simultaneously reinforcing the open access movement. The original empirical surveys of responses to the CBD included here provide a valuable addition to the literature on governing scientific knowledge commons.

Governing Medical Knowledge Commons makes three claims: first, evidence matters to innovation policymaking; second, evidence shows that self-governing knowledge commons support effective innovation without prioritizing traditional intellectual property rights; and third, knowledge commons can succeed in the critical fields of medicine and health. The editors' knowledge commons framework adapts Elinor Ostrom's groundbreaking research on natural resource commons to the distinctive attributes of knowledge and information, providing a systematic means for accumulating evidence about how knowledge commons succeed. The editors' previous volume, Governing Knowledge Commons, demonstrated the framework's power through case studies in a diverse range of areas. Governing Medical Knowledge Commons provides fifteen new case studies of knowledge commons in which researchers, medical professionals, and patients generate, improve, and share innovations, offering readers a practical introduction to the knowledge commons framework and a synthesis of conclusions and lessons. The book is also available as Open Access.

This book presents eleven classic papers by the late Professor Suzanne Scotchmer with introductions by leading economists and legal scholars. This book introduces Scotchmer's life and work; analyses her pioneering contributions to the economics of patents and innovation incentives, with a special focus on the modern theory of cumulative innovation; and describes her pioneering work on law and economics, evolutionary game theory, and general equilibrium/club theory. This book also provides a self-contained introduction to students who want to learn more about the various fields that Professor Scotchmer worked in, with a particular focus on patent incentives and cumulative innovation.

This collection reflects on contemporary and contentious issues in international rulemaking in regards to pharmaceutical patent law. With chapters from both well-established and rising scholars, the collection contributes to the understanding of the regulatory framework governing pharmaceutical patents as an integrated discipline through the assessment of relevant laws, trends and policy options. Focusing on patent law and related pharmaceutical regulations, the collection addresses the pressing issues governments face in an attempt to resolve policy dilemmas involving competing interests, needs and objectives. The common theme running throughout the collection is the need for policy and law makers to think and act in a systemic manner and to be more reflective and responsive in finding new solutions within and outside the patent system to the long-standing problems as well as emerging challenges

This monograph conducts a comprehensive analysis of the EU right of communication to the public, one of the exclusive rights under EU copyright law, and provides an alternative framework for its interpretation and application. The present state of the law is unsatisfactory; there is uncertainty in the acquis communautaire and courts at the EU and domestic levels have struggled to apply the right. Therefore, the book identifies the problems with the existing right of communication to the public and proposes recommendations for reform. In addition to reforming the scope of the right of communication to the public, the jurisdiction and applicable law in relation to the right are analysed and changes are recommended. Thus, the book covers both the scope and practicalities of a coherent and effective reform of the right. In light of the continuing development and accompanying tribulations with this right at the EU level, this book provides a topical and timely analysis that will be of interest to academics and practitioners working on EU copyright law. Cited in Opinion of Advocate General Henrik Saugmandsgaard Oe, joined Cases C-682/18 and C-683/18, Frank Peterson v Google LLC, YouTube LLC, YouTube Inc., Google Germany GmbH and Elsevier Inc. v Cyando AG, ECLI:EU:C:2020:586, Court of Justice of the European Union, 16 July 2020.

Perspectives on Patentable Subject Matter brings together leading scholars to offer diverse perspectives on the question of which types of subject matter are even eligible for patent protection, setting aside the widely known requirement that a claimed invention avoid the prior art and be adequately disclosed. Some leading commentators and policy-making bodies and individuals envision patentable subject matter to include anything under the sun made by humans, others envision a range of restrictions for particular fields of endeavor, from business methods and computer software to matters involving life, such as DNA and methods for screening or treating disease. Employing approaches that are both theoretically rigorous and grounded in the real world, this book is well suited for practicing lawyers, managers, lawmakers and analysts, as well as academics researching or teaching in law schools, business schools, public policy schools, and in economics and political science departments.

Celebrities can sell anything from cars to clothing, and we are constantly fascinated by their influence over our lifestyle choices. This book makes an important contribution to legal scholarship about the laws governing the commercial appropriation of fame. Exploring the right of publicity in the US and the passing off action in the UK and Australia, David Tan demonstrates how an appreciation of the production, circulation and consumption of fame can be incorporated into a pragmatic framework to further the understanding of the laws protecting the commercial value of the celebrity personality. Using contemporary examples such as social media and appropriation art, Tan shows how present challenges for the law may be addressed using this cultural framework. This book will be of interest to intellectual property law academics, judges, practitioners and students in the US and common law jurisdictions, as well as those in the field of cultural studies.

In the aftermath of apartheid, South Africa undertook an ambitious revision of its intellectual property system. In Lion's Share Veit Erlmann traces the role of copyright law in this process and its impact on the South African music industry. Although the South African government tied the reform to its postapartheid agenda of redistributive justice and a turn to a postindustrial knowledge economy, Erlmann shows how the persistence of structural racism and Euro-modernist conceptions of copyright threaten the viability of the reform project. In case studies ranging from antipiracy police raids and the crafting of legislation to protect indigenous expressive practices to the landmark lawsuit against Disney for its appropriation of Solomon Linda's song "Mbube" for its hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" from The Lion King, Erlmann follows the intricacies of musical copyright through the criminal justice system, parliamentary committees, and the offices of a music licensing and royalty organization. Throughout, he demonstrates how copyright law is inextricably entwined with race, popular music, postcolonial governance, indigenous rights, and the struggle to create a more equitable society.

This brand new title brings together the different streams of the transfer landscape and outlines the separate legal rules all in one accessible place. Data transfers (under data protection legal rules) are one of the most discussed areas of data protection, and are currently undergoing mass change. Following on from Brexit, professionals now have more than one set of transfer rules to comply with, including: - New Adequacy Decision - New Standard Contracts - Forthcoming UK Contracts - Consultation on future laws

The growth of Blockchain technology presents a number of legal questions for lawyers, regulators and industry participants alike. This book identifies the legal challenges posed by cryptocurrencies, smart contracts and other applications of Blockchain, questioning whether these challenges can be addressed within the current legal system, or whether significant changes are required. Chapters assess how Blockchain's many applications will affect different areas of law, including contract, criminal, financial and private international law. Contributors analyse how these fields of law may need to adapt to accommodate Blockchain technology, proposing possible solutions and ways forward. Several chapters are based on the Swiss legal framework as it allows market participants the widest freedom to operate in Blockchains and cryptocurrencies. Overall, this illuminating work highlights the importance of creating a regulatory structure that will allow Blockchain technologies to develop, whilst also ensuring they are not abused. The conclusions of this book are however quite reassuring, with contributing authors suggesting that although disruptive, the challenges brought about by the 'Blockchain revolution' can, for the most part, be effectively addressed within the law as we know it. This book will be a valuable resource for practising lawyers and academic researchers who are interested in understanding more about how legal and regulatory systems will be affected by the implementation of Blockchain technologies. Contributors include: A. Alberini, V. Botteron, C. Boulay, N. Capus, B. Carron, P. Delimatsis, F. Guillaume, O. Hari, B. Homsy, D. Kraus, M. Le Boudec, V. Mignon, T. Obrist, V. Pfammatter, R.A. Pfister, V. Salomon, P. Witzig

This book helps readers gain an in-depth understanding of electronic health record (EHR) systems, medical big data, and the regulations that govern them. It analyzes both the shortcomings and benefits of EHR systems, exploring the law's response to the creation of these systems, highlighting gaps in the current legal framework, and developing detailed recommendations for regulatory, policy, and technological improvements. Electronic Health Records and Medical Big Data addresses not only privacy and security concerns but also other important challenges, such as those related to data quality and data analysis. In addition, the author formulates a large body of recommendations to improve the technology's safety, security, and efficacy for both clinical and secondary (such as research) uses of medical data.

Owning Ideas is a comprehensive account of the emergence of the concept of intellectual property in the United States during the long nineteenth century. In the modern information era, intellectual property has become a central economic and cultural phenomenon, and an important lever for allocating wealth and power. This book uncovers the intellectual origins of this modern concept of private property in ideas through a close study of its emergence within the two most important areas of this field: patent and copyright. By placing the development of legal concepts within their social context, this study reconstructs the radical transformation of the idea. Our modern notion of owning ideas, it argues, came into being when the ideals of eighteenth-century possessive individualism at the heart of early patent and copyright were subjected to the forces and ideology of late-nineteenth-century corporate liberalism.

This timely collection guides us to rethink the role of intellectual property law in a shared knowledge environment. Covering a wide range of topics - from smartphone wars to fashion design and from synthetic biology to digital content - this book greatly advances our understanding of open and collaborative innovation.' - Peter K. Yu, Drake University Law School, USInnovation, Competition and Collaboration explores intellectual property (IP) in an era of fast-paced innovation, where private contractual arrangements for shared use of IP are seen to enhance competitive advantage. This timely book examines emerging innovation models and offers a forward-thinking, globalized perspective on critical developments in IP law. As innovation processes become increasingly collaborative, new relationships among players in the innovation space emerge. These developments demand new legal structures that allow horizontally integrated, open and shared use of IP. In this book, expert contributors review fundamental issues surrounding the collaborative use of IP and discuss emerging trends. The topics discussed include: the interpretation of FRAND terms in the context of standard essential patents; secondary liability of technology providers; contractual arrangements in trademark law, and the treatment of IP issues in specific emerging industries. Academics and practitioners alike will find this compelling discussion both informative and pragmatic, benefiting from the insight into how and why, in this modern innovation environment, competitive advantage is not premised solely on IP exclusivity. Contributors: D. Beldiman, M.W. Carroll, S. Dusollier, G. Ghidini, A. Kur, T. Minssen, A. Ohly, A. Stazi, T. Vinje, J. De Werra, J.B. Wested

Selling Rights has firmly established itself as the leading guide to all aspects of rights sales and co-publications throughout the world. The eighth edition is substantially updated to illustrate the changes in rights in relation to new technologies and legal developments in the UK and the rest of the world. This fully revised and updated edition includes: * coverage of the full range of potential rights, from English-language territorial rights through to serial rights, permissions, rights for the reading-impaired, translation rights, dramatization and documentary rights, electronic and multimedia rights; * more detailed coverage of Open Access; * the aftermath of recent reviews and revisions to copyright in the UK and elsewhere; * updated coverage of book fairs; * a major update of the chapter on audio rights; * an updated chapter on collective licensing via reproduction rights organizations; * the impact of new electronic hardware (e-readers, tablets, smartphones); * the distinction between sales and licences; * the rights implications of acquisitions, mergers and disposals; * updates on serial rights; * new appendices listing countries belonging to the international copyright conventions and absentee countries. Selling Rights is an essential reference tool and an accessible and illuminating guide to current and future issues for rights professionals and students of publishing.

This book seeks to make an intervention into the ongoing debate about the scope and intensity of global copyright laws. While mapping out the primary actors in the context of globalization and the modern political economy of information ownership, the argument is made that alternatives to further expansion of copyright are necessary. By examining the multiple and competing interests in creating the legal regime of copyright law, this books attempts to map the political economy of copyright in the information age, critique the concentration of ownership that is intrinsic in the status quo, and provide an assessment of the state of the contemporary global copyright landscape and its futures. It draws upon the current narratives of copyright as produced by corporate, government, and political actors and frames these narratives as language games within a global political project to define how information and culture will be shared and exchanged in the future. The text problematizes the relationship of the state to culture, comments on the global flows of culture, and critiques the regulatory apparatus that is in place to commodify culture and align it with the contemporary nation-state. In the end, the possibility of non-commodified and more open futures are explored. The State of Copyright will be of particular interest for students and scholars of international political economy, law, political science, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, library sciences, and communication studies. It also will appeal to a growing popular audience that has taken an interest in the issues of copyright.

The new edition of this acclaimed book gives a fully updated overview of European data protection law affecting companies, incorporating the important legal developments which have taken place since the last edition was published. These include the first three cases of the European Court of Justice interpreting the EU Data Protection Directive (95/46), the Commission's first report on the implementation of the Directive, the Data Retention Directive, new developments in international data transfers, conflicts between security requirements and data protection, and the implementation of the Electronic Communications and Privacy Directive 2002/58 in the Member States. It also covers the recent European Court of Justice decision on the controversial export of airline passenger data to the US, and expands its European overview to include the new and acceding Member States. The book contains comprehensive coverage of data protection law, while at the same time providing pragmatic guidance on the typical compliance issues that companies face. As globalization of the world economy continues, an increasing number of business issues with data protection implications have come to the foreground, for example, outsourcing, whistleblower hotlines and records management, all of which are covered in the book. The appendices have been expanded to include most sources which a company will need, such as the texts of relevant directives, the safe harbor principles and FAQs, and charts of implementation in the Member States of specific provisions of interest to business. Thus, the book is a single reference source for companies faced with data protection issues. A Chinese edition of the book was published in 2008, making it the first in-depth treatise on European data protection law published in Chinese.

In the aftermath of apartheid, South Africa undertook an ambitious revision of its intellectual property system. In Lion's Share Veit Erlmann traces the role of copyright law in this process and its impact on the South African music industry. Although the South African government tied the reform to its postapartheid agenda of redistributive justice and a turn to a postindustrial knowledge economy, Erlmann shows how the persistence of structural racism and Euro-modernist conceptions of copyright threaten the viability of the reform project. In case studies ranging from antipiracy police raids and the crafting of legislation to protect indigenous expressive practices to the landmark lawsuit against Disney for its appropriation of Solomon Linda's song "Mbube" for its hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" from The Lion King, Erlmann follows the intricacies of musical copyright through the criminal justice system, parliamentary committees, and the offices of a music licensing and royalty organization. Throughout, he demonstrates how copyright law is inextricably entwined with race, popular music, postcolonial governance, indigenous rights, and the struggle to create a more equitable society.

For developing countries, the concept of sustainable development, as opposed to rapid pockets of development, embodies great promise for socio-political reasons. Most analyses of development, however, have focused on either trade mechanisms or intellectual-property regimes, which has resulted in overly narrow and sometimes paradoxical conclusions, with corresponding policy measures that have promised far more than they can deliver. While each of these mechanisms has benefits and disadvantages, questions about how they would interact and what kind of results they produce remain largely unexplored. Similarly, almost all of these regimes provide generalized solutions that developing countries tend to denounce as ill-fitting. There are several flexibilities that can be used as effective tools, but knowing which flexibility applies best to what context remains contentious. In Patent and Trade Disparities in Developing Countries, Srividhya Ragavan examines the interaction between trade and intellectual property regimes (using the patent regime in India as the focal point) in an integrated developmental framework to determine whether and how sustainable economic growth can be achieved in developing countries. This book examines a number of important questions: Is compulsory licensing the best way to provide access to medication or is patent protection more efficient? Should innovation in plant breeding be protected at all? If so, should it be using patents or a sui generis mechanism?

IP law has evolved from being a little pool to a big ocean. Corporate governance needs to respond to society's rising expectations of directors and boards as the impact of the global intellectual property ecosystem is felt. How can a responsible corporate culture of IP transparency be stimulated to create a rosy future to connect corporate communication with the desires of shareholders, investors and other stakeholders? The astonishing lack of material quantitative and qualitative information companies report about their IP assets makes it difficult for shareholders and other stakeholders to assess directors' stewardship of those assets - a pressing corporate governance issue in the 21st century. This book advances IP reporting in alignment with the key corporate governance principles of transparency and disclosure. It analyses the juncture between the IP ecosystem; corporate finance and accounting for intangibles; and corporate governance. Patents, mini-case studies and an original business triage style model for assessing IP disclosures are used to illustrate the gaps corporate governance theory needs to address. Focussing on the common law tradition of corporate governance in England and Wales, intangibles and IP reporting developments in other jurisdictions are also explored.

This book explores the question of whether software should be patented. It analyses the ways in which the courts of the US, the EU, and Australia have attempted to deal with the problems surrounding the patentability of software and describes why it is that the software patent issue should be dealt with as a patentable subject matter issue, rather than as an issue of novelty or nonobviousness. Anton Hughes demonstrates that the current approach has failed and that a fresh approach to the software patent problem is needed. The book goes on to argue against the patentability of software based on its close relationship to mathematics. Drawing on historical and philosophical accounts of mathematics in pursuit of a better understanding of its nature and focusing the debate on the conditions necessary for mathematical advancement, the author puts forward an analytical framework centred around the concept of the useful arts. This analysis both explains mathematics', and therefore software's, nonpatentability and offers a theory of patentable subject matter consistent with Australian, American, and European patent law.

Copyright, Contracts, Creators provides a new and original analysis on the relationship between owners and creators and recommendations for legislative change to re-balance the relationship. It is a must read for the intellectual property legal community and anyone interested in the promotion of creative works. - Marshall Rothstein, Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada 'Dr Giuseppina D'Agostino is a protector of the arts, and her work on intellectual property is designed not only to bring law and order to our digital universe but to bring hope to the artists, poets and writers whose only hope of pursuing their artistry is to earn income for their craft. A wonderful book by one of the most wonderful and forward thinking minds in this subject area. - Tony Chapman, Founder and CEO, Capital C, Canada 'Dr D'Agostino has produced an important, carefully documented and courageous study that deserves to be widely read and discussed and (dare one say?) even to have its message heeded.' - David Vaver, Emeritus Professor of Intellectual Property & IT Law, University of Oxford, UK The digital world has put content within arm's reach of desire. No longer can an author be satisfied that her intellectual property is safely encased in a bound book, nor can a photographer know where his work will be displayed or shared, nor can a writer rest assured that her article will be consumed in the intended magazine or newspaper. The Internet-fueled recycling of existing works into new media is the greatest challenge to copyright law. Copyright, Contracts, Creators evaluates the efficacy of current copyright law to address the contracting and use of creative works. It looks in particular at freelance works and argues that their copyright treatment on a national and international level is inadequate to resolve ambiguities in the contracting and uses of the work. Giuseppina D'Agostino discusses how historically laws and courts were more sympathetic to creators, and how the Internet revolution has shifted the scales to favor owners. Consequently, creators often find themselves at opposing ends with copyright owners, and in a disproportionately weaker bargaining position that places tremendous strain on their livelihoods. She argues that this predicament puts society at risk of losing its most valued asset: professional creators. The author calls for a new framework to justify legislative provisions and resolve ambiguities while suggesting principles and mechanisms to address the inadequate treatment of freelance work. Scholars and students of law, cultural studies, and intellectual property will find this volume a critical addition to their libraries. Beyond these, policy makers, lawyers and anyone concerned with the blurring lines of intellectual property in the age of cyberspace will welcome the author's insights.