Why does society allow, or even encourage, private appropriation of inventions? When do patents encourage competition, when do they hamper it? How should society design the compromise between the interest of the inventor and the interest of the users of patented inventions? How should the patent system adapt to new technological areas?
These questions and many more are addressed by the authors in this groundbreaking analysis of the economics behind the European patent system. Beginning with the history and principles of the patent system, the book then examines the economic effects of patenting on innovation and the diffusion of technology and growth. Throughout the book the theory and the reality are discussed alongside real world examples and comparison between the European, USA, and Japanese patent systems.

Preferential Services Liberalization offers the first, comprehensive analysis of the conditions that the World Trade Organization sets for preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in the area of services. Johanna Jacobsson provides an in-depth analysis of the relevant GATS rules, puts forward a practical method to analyze services PTAs, and applies the method to services agreements concluded by the EU. The result is a detailed examination of the legal criteria for services PTAs and methods to study them, combined with a better understanding of the level of liberalization reached by the EU and its member states. This book does go beyond the EU in analyzing the implications that multi-level governance has for international services liberalization. It proposes a new approach to study services commitments of any federal state and argues that lower levels of government should receive more attention in international negotiations over services trade.

This practical book is written with the busy practitioner in mind, explaining the law in clear and simple terms and concentrating heavily on procedure. The procedural chapters make up the greater part of the book and are designed to ensure that the practitioner drafts notices without mistakes and understands the critical time limits. Leasehold Enfranchisement contains checklists of mistakes to be avoided in the preparation of notices and clear guidance on procedure post service of the notice. The book enables the reader to find essential information easily. Fully up to date with the new procedural rules, Leasehold Enfranchisement includes the latest forms published by the First-tier Tribunal. It is accessible and practical, providing guidance on filling in notices, and checklists of common mistakes to be avoided. The authors provide plenty of detail on how to accomplish the main task for a solicitor in this area. The book also tackles valuation in a way that a non-valuer can understand so that the solicitor understands the valuation exercise.

Patent Law for Scientists, Inventors & Business Management is not a legal book for attorneys but rather is a practical discussion of critically important issues which cause patent applicants and those making the business decisions regarding patents to not infrequently lose patent rights. Too often brilliant inventive work coupled with a diligent well funded development effort leads to a patent which does not prevent third parties from using the invention without infringing or is invalid because of poor decisions during drafting and/or prosecution. This book educates the decision makers to the issues involved in obtaining valid patents with sufficiently broad scope to protect the assignee's investment. Whereas tax law is complex, patent law is not forgiving. With tax law often mistakes can be corrected by filing an amended return; with patent applications mistakes most often can not be corrected. It is critically important not to make mistakes in both drafting and prosecution of patent applications.

This fascinating study describes efforts to define and protect traditional knowledge and the associated issues of access to genetic resources, from the negotiation of the Convention on Biological Diversity to The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Nagoya Protocol. Drawing on the expertise of local specialists from around the globe, the chapters judiciously mix theory and empirical evidence to provide a deep and convincing understanding of traditional knowledge, innovation, access to genetic resources, and benefit sharing. Because traditional knowledge was understood in early negotiations to be subject to a property rights framework, these often became bogged down due to differing views on the rights involved. New models, developed around the notion of distributive justice and self-determination, are now gaining favor. This book suggests - through a discussion of theory and contemporary case studies from Brazil, India, Kenya and Canada - that a focus on distributive justice best advances the interests of indigenous peoples while also fostering scientific innovation in both developed and developing countries. Comprehensive as well as nuanced, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge will be of great interest to scholars and students of law, political science, anthropology and geography. National and international policy makers and those interested in the environment, indigenous peoples' rights and innovation will find the book an enlightening resource. Contributors: T. Bubela, J. Carbone, R. Crookshanks, L. DeBusschere, G. Dutfield, E.R. Gold, D.S. Hik, A. Kumbamu, C. Lawson, C. Metcalf, S. Nickels, K. Nnadozie, P.W.B. Phillips, E.B. Rodrigues Jr, T. Williams, S. Zhang

While intellectual property rights are mostly studied in isolation, in practice the legal categories created to protect these rights provide only partial legal coverage of the broader context in which such rights are created, used, and enforced. Consequently, often multiple IP rights overlap with respect to the same underlying subject matter. This book enables readers to consider how these overlapping rights work together, facilitating a deeper understanding of how and when they may be encountered in practice. Each chapter addresses a discrete pair of IP rights and uses a hypothetical scenario to analyse particular conceptual and practical issues, giving practitioners a comprehensive understanding of the overlap. While the focus of these IP rights is on UK, US and European law, the book also contains comparison tables of overlapping IP rights in other countries around the world. These tables complement the chapters, offering a detailed overview as to how these overlaps apply in different legal jurisdictions, as well as how they differ.

Technical standards are ubiquitous in the modern networked economy. They allow products made and sold by different vendors to interoperate with little to no consumer effort and enable new market entrants to innovate on top of established technology platforms. This groundbreaking volume, edited by Jorge L. Contreras, assesses and analyzes the legal aspects of technical standards and standardization. Bringing together more than thirty leading international scholars, advocates, and policymakers, it focuses on two of the most contentious and critical areas pertaining to standards today in key jurisdictions around the world: antitrust/competition law and patent law. (A subsequent volume will focus on international trade, copyright, and administrative law.) This comprehensive, detailed examination sheds new light on the standards that shape the global technology marketplace and will serve as an indispensable tool for scholars, practitioners, judges, and policymakers everywhere.

An up-to-date and in-depth examination of intellectual property issues in mergers and acquisitions

In mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property assets can be especially difficult to accurately value, most notably in rapidly evolving high-tech industries. Understanding the factors that create value in intellectual property assets, and the part such assets play in both domestic and international mergers, is vitally important to anyone involved in the merger and acquisition process. This book provides an overview of the intellectual property landscape in mergers and acquisitions and thoroughly covers important topics from financial and accounting concerns to due diligence and transfer issues.

Bringing together some of the leading economists, valuation experts, lawyers, and accountants in the area of intellectual property, this helpful guide acts as an advisor to business professionals and their counsel who need answers for intellectual property questions. The valuation methods presented here are simple and don’t require a background in finance. Whether you’re a manager or executive, an accountant or an appraiser, Intellectual Property Assets in Mergers and Acquisitions offers all the expert help you need to better understand the issues and the risks in intellectual property assets in mergers and acquisitions.

The American Constitution empowers Congress to enact copyright laws to 'promote the progress of science and the useful arts'. This book offers the first in-depth analysis of the connection between copyright law as a legal institution and the constitutional goal of promoting social and cultural advancement. Focusing on the relationship between this explicit purpose and the normative uses and production of creative works, Alina Ng argues that a robust copyright system that embodies moral and ethical principles is necessary to protect the different values and expectations of authors, publishers and users of creative works. The author demonstrates that a more nuanced understanding of property rights and statutory privileges, as bearing different types of entitlements, is critical to the sustainable development of society and culture at both national and international levels. She posits that as communication technologies become ubiquitous and facilitate greater connectivity between authors and their readers, the notion of authorship as a creative endeavor producing works with significant influence upon society and culture must form the central tenet of the copyright system. This unique approach to copyright law will be of interest to legal, cultural and literary scholars as well as others interested in the relationship between creativity, authorship and progress. Contents: Foreword Introduction: How Did We Get Here? Part I: Our Present 1. Knowledge in a Global Society 2. Cultural and Social Development Part II: Our Past 3. The Social Contract 4. A Second Opportunity 5. Landscaping the Legal Terrain Part III: Our Future 6. Building Bridges for Progress 7. The International Stage Conclusion: Where Do We Go From Here? Bibliography

`The book is explaining in detail the current discussion regarding the unification of European patent law. It explains the current national legal practices in Europe, describing the legal and factual issues and the different approaches to achieve unification. The book manages to show the complex situation and the different opinions from the beginning of the discussion in a clear and comprehensive manner without requiring previous knowledge of the reader and is therefore to be recommended for everyone interested.' - Jochen Pagenberg, LL.M. Harvard, President EPLAW, Germany and Thomas Schachl, LL.M., Attorney-at-law, Germany In his detailed study, Stefan Luginbuehl critically examines the latest efforts to establish a common European and EU patent litigation system and suggests possible alternatives to such a system. Due to the lack of a European patent court, both the EPO and national judges interpret European patents and European patent law. This results in diverging interpretation across Europe and costly litigation for patent holders. Stefan Luginbuehl's proposals to promote the goal of a uniform interpretation of patent law and ease the difficulties are timely and highly insightful. Dealing with important legal and political issues related to European patent litigation and the establishment of a common patent litigation system, this book will appeal to practitioners, patent litigators, patent attorneys and judges specialised in patent litigation. Academics teaching and learning IP (patent law), private international law, or international civil procedure, will find this study interesting as the book deals with important aspects of national and international patent litigation, as well as procedural and structural questions related to the establishment of a patent court for Europe.

Media and Entertainment Law is a fast growing sector of practice in the EC, and in the UK in particular. The emergence of multi-media law has raised a large number of novel conceptual and practical difficulties for lawyers specialising in the area. The Yearbook is designed to respond to these practical difficulties while also making a serious contribution to media law as an area of serious academic study. It contains high quality analyses of topical issues, as well as thorough surveys of key areas of practice. Up to date and informative, the Yearbook is now well-established as a key source of information and analysis for all media and entertainment law professionals.

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.

Inventions and Official Secrecy traces the little known history of legislation which permits the British Government to prohibit the publication of certain technical ideas submitted as patent applications. The story begins in 1855, with the first recorded case of prohibition, and ends, as the thirty year rule demands, in the 1960s.

Why should a property interest exist in an intangible item? In recent years, arguments over intellectual property have often divided proponents who emphasize the importance of providing incentives for producers of creative works from skeptics who emphasize the need for free and open access to knowledge.

In a wide-ranging and ambitious analysis, Robert P. Merges establishes a sophisticated rationale for the most vital form of modern property: IP rights. His insightful new book answers the many critics who contend that these rights are inefficient, unfair, and theoretically incoherent. But Merges vigorous defense of IP is also a call for appropriate legal constraints and boundaries: IP rights are real, but they come with real limits.

Drawing on Kant, Locke, and Rawls as well as contemporary scholars, Merges crafts an original theory to explain why IP rights make sense as a reward for effort and as a way to encourage individuals to strive. He also provides a novel explanation of why awarding IP rights to creative people is fair for everyone else in society, by contributing to a just distribution of resources. Merges argues convincingly that IP rights are based on a solid ethical foundation, and when subject to fair limits these rights are an indispensable part of a well-functioning society.

Access to works in the public domain is an important source of human creativity and autonomy, whether in the arts, scientific research or online discourse. But what can users actually do with works without obtaining the permission of a copyright owner? Readers will be surprised to find how many different kinds of permitted usage exist around the world. This book offers a comprehensive international and comparative account of the copyright public domain. It identifies fifteen categories of public rights and gives a detailed legal explanation of each, showing how their implementation differs between jurisdictions. Through this analysis, the authors aim to restore balance to copyright policy debates, and to contribute to such debates by making practical law reform proposals. A major intervention in the field of intellectual property law and copyright, this book will appeal to lawyers, scholars and those involved in the administration of copyright law.

This work is a brief commentary on the law relating to Intellectual Property Rights. Intellectual property comprises all the products of the human intellect, namely books, inventions, paintings, music, designs, and models. The authors, in this work, seek to provide elementary knowledge of intellectual property rights and their protection. This book encompasses Patents, Trade Mark and Service Mark, Geographical Indications, Industrial Designs, Copyright and related rights, Protection of new Plant Varieties etc. Salient features of the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism, the vision of a Global IPR Order, means of tackling software piracy and IPR Enforcement, WIPO, and the TRIPS agreement, have also been studied. Who needs to read this book: "Intellectual Property Rights - A Primer" is packed with indispensable information for: The General Public Law Schools that teach intellectual property rights; Associates dealing with IPR; Lawyers dealing with IPR issues; and, Associations involved in IPR issues.

Including a copy of the act, the culmination of 15 years of consideration of reforms to the law of copyright, this book provides a legal framework for the advances in technology in recent years and aims to explain the detail of the act as well as describe the existing law which underpins it.

There is a growing need to understand the role of the regulation of intellectual property rights (IPRs), in order not only to achieve economic performance, growth and sustainable development at corporate, sectoral and global levels, but also to provide a higher quality of life for communities worldwide. Intellectual Property Rights is cutting edge in addressing current debates affecting businesses, industry sectors and society today, and in focusing not only on the enabling welfare effects of IPR systems, but also on some of the possible adverse effects of IPR systems. The main areas covered in the book are: * the global commons in an era of corporate dominance and privatisation of the public domain, including science, culture, and healthcare under TRIPS * the rationales for IPRs, and the importance of an appropriate design of an IPR regime in achieving its objectives * opening the black box of IPR offices and critically reviewing how they affect economic performance in both theory and practice * coordinating the institutions (state versus sector institutions, knowledge networks, innovation systems) creating and extracting financial and non-financial value from patents and copyrights. This book challenges the existing mainstream thinking and analytical frameworks dominating the theoretical literature on IPRs within economics, management, politics, law and regulation theory. It is relevant for policymakers, business analysts, industrial and business economists, researchers and students.

This book discusses the means, instruments and institutions needed to create incentives to promote the conservation and sustainable use of traditional knowledge and plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, within the framework of the world trade order. It analyzes in depth the option to create specific sui generis intellectual property rights of the TRIPS Agreement. It then discusses the ways to support the maintenance of information which cannot be allocated to specific authors, and examines alternative concepts within the trade of traditionally generated information and related products.

For over a century, intellectual property (IP) regimes have been justified using Western philosophical theories rooted in the idea that IP must reward talent and maximize global stocks of knowledge and cultural products. Reframing IP in a context of legal pluralism, Ezieddin Elmahjub brings an Islamic and comparative narrative to the appropriate design and scope of IP rights, and in doing so criticizes the dominance of Western influence on a global regime that impacts the ability of people to access medicine, to read, to imagine, and to reshape popular culture. The Islamic vision of IP, which is based on a broad theory of social justice, maintains that IP cannot simply be seen as a reward for effort or tool to maximize economic efficiency but as one legal right within a complicated distributive scheme affecting fundamental human rights, equal opportunities, and human capabilities.

Should a machine that emits harmful levels of pollution receive patent protection? Should pornography receive copyright protection? This book argues that certain intellectual creations should not receive patent or copyright protection on the grounds that those works are harmful to society. The book posits that the theories of intellectual property and the Intellectual Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution suggest this conclusion. It also considers several counterarguments: in particular, that denying protection might increase the output of objectionable works, that other laws should address moral problems, and that intellectual property functions better under a laissez-faire approach. Despite these counterarguments, the book contends that law should never encourage or reward harmful behavior. This simple principle implies that courts should exercise their equitable powers to deny enforcement of intellectual property for works involving unlawful conduct. It implies that courts should deny protection for works that clearly fall outside the Intellectual Property Clause's scope of protectable works. And it implies that Congress should consider denying protection for works that pose clear harms to society. The book also addresses the intersection between denying intellectual property protection and maintaining free speech protection. In that regard, the book recognizes that the Free Speech Clause severely limits Congress's discretionary authority to deny copyright protection for expression that it deems immoral. The book concludes that courts, Congress, and government agencies should exercise limited discretion in deciding whether certain intellectual works are morally eligible for intellectual property protection.

Since the rise of Napster and other file-sharing services in its wake, most of us have assumed that intellectual piracy is a product of the digital age and that it threatens creative expression as never before. The Motion Picture Association of America, for instance, claimed that in 2005 the film industry lost $2.3 billion in revenue to piracy online. But here Adrian Johns shows that piracy has a much longer and more vital history than we have realized--one that has been largely forgotten and is little understood.

"Piracy" explores the intellectual property wars from the advent of print culture in the fifteenth century to the reign of the Internet in the twenty-first. Brimming with broader implications for today's debates over open access, fair use, free culture, and the like, Johns's book ultimately argues that piracy has always stood at the center of our attempts to reconcile creativity and commerce--and that piracy has been an engine of social, technological, and intellectual innovations as often as it has been their adversary. From Cervantes to Sonny Bono, from Maria Callas to Microsoft, from Grub Street to Google, no chapter in the story of piracy evades Johns's graceful analysis in what will be the definitive history of the subject for years to come.

Are innovation and creativity helped or hindered by our intellectual property laws? In the two hundred plus years since the Constitution enshrined protections for those who create and innovate, we're still debating the merits of IP laws and whether or not they actually work as intended. Artists, scientists, businesses, and the lawyers who serve them, as well as the Americans who benefit from their creations all still wonder: what facilitates innovation and creativity in our digital age? And what role, if any, do our intellectual property laws play in the growth of innovation and creativity in the United States?
Incentivizing the "progress of science and the useful arts" has been the goal of intellectual property law since our constitutional beginnings. "The Eureka Myth" cuts through the current debates and goes straight to the source: the artists and innovators themselves. Silbey makes sense of the intersections between intellectual property law and creative and innovative activity by centering on the stories told by artists, scientists, their employers, lawyers and managers, describing how and why they create and innovate and whether or how IP law plays a role in their activities. Their employers, business partners, managers, and lawyers also describe their role in facilitating the creative and innovative work. Silbey's connections and distinctions made between the stories and statutes serve to inform present and future innovative and creative communities.
Breaking new ground in its examination of the U.S. economy and cultural identity, "The Eureka Myth" draws out new and surprising conclusions about the sometimes misinterpreted relationships between creativity and intellectual property protections.