There is much current controversy over whether the rights to seeds or plant genetic resources should be owned by the private sector or be common property. This book addresses the legal and policy aspects of the multilateral seed management regime. First, it studies in detail the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Treaty) in order to understand and identify its dysfunctions. Second, it proposes solutions - using recent developments of the "theory of the commons" - to improve the collective seed management system of the Treaty, a necessary condition for its member states to reach the overall food security and sustainable agriculture goals. Redesigning the Global Seed Commons provides a significant contribution to the current political and academic debates on agrobiodiversity law and governance, and on food security and food sovereignty, by analyzing key issues under the Treaty that affect the design and implementation of regulatory instruments managing seeds as a commons. It also examines the practical, legal, political and economic problems encountered in the attempt to implement these obligations in contemporary settings. In particular, it considers how to improve the Treaty implementation by proposing ways for Contracting Parties to better reach the Treaty's objectives taking a holistic view of the human-seed ecosystem. Following the tenth anniversary of the functioning the Treaty's multilateral system of access and benefit-sharing, which is currently under review by its Contracting Parties, this book is well-timed to examine recent developments in the field and guide the current review process to design a truly Global Seed Commons.

It has become a commonplace that there has been an information revolution, transforming both society and the economy. In 1995 the Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPs) agreement aimed to harmonise protection for property in knowledge throughout the global system. This book considers the contemporary disputes about the ownership of knowledge resources - as in the cases of genetically modified foods, the music industry or the internet - and the problematic nature of the TRIPs agreement. In this highly topical book, Christopher May reveals that, because of such problems, at present the balance in intellectual property rights between public good and private reward is more often than not weighted towards the latter.

The question of how genetic resources ought to be owned and controlled has become a controversial international political issue. The authors examine this issue from a normative perspective, discussing the four principles that govern the debate over genetic resource control. These four principles are proprietarian intellectual property rights (the dominant principle, reflecting Western influences); communitarian intellectual property rights (a principle bound up with the rights of indigenous peoples); national sovereignty (the principle at the heart of international law); and common heritage of mankind (the most recent principle reflecting Third World demands).

In recent years, Intellectual Property Rights - both in the form of patents and copyrights - have expanded in their coverage, the breadth and depth of protection, and the tightness of their enforcement. Moreover, for the first time in history, the IPR regime has become increasingly uniform at international level by means of the TRIPS agreement, irrespectively of the degrees of development of the various countries. This volume, first, addresses from different angles the effects of IPR on the processes of innovation and innovation diffusion in general, and with respect to developing countries in particular. Contrary to a widespread view, there is very little evidence that the rates of innovation increase with the tightness of IPR even in developed countries. Conversely, in many circumstances, tight IPR represents an obstacle to imitation and innovation diffusion in developing countries. What can policies do then? This is the second major theme of the book which offers several detailed discussions of possible policy measures even within the current TRIPS regime - including the exploitation of the waivers to IPR enforcement that it contains, various forms of development of 'technological commons', and non-patent rewards to innovators, such as prizes. Some drawbacks of the regimes, however, are unavoidable: hence the advocacy in many contributions to the book of deep reforms of the system in both developed and developing countries, including the non-patentability of scientific discoveries, the reduction of the depth and breadth of IPR patents, and the variability of the degrees of IPR protection according to the levels of a country's development.

Large-scale, interoperable biobanks are an increasingly important asset in today's life science research and, as a result, multiple types of biobanks are being established around the globe with very different financial, organizational and legal set-ups. With interdisciplinary chapters written by lawyers, sociologists, doctors and biobank practitioners, Global Genes, Local Concerns identifies and discusses the most pressing issues in contemporary biobanking. This timely book addresses pressing questions such as: how do national biobanks best contribute to translational research?; What are the opportunities and challenges that current regulations present for translational use of biobanks?; How does inter-biobank coordination and collaboration occur on various levels?; and how could academic and industrial exploitation, ownership and IPR issues be addressed and facilitated? Identifying that biobanks foundational and operational set-ups should be legally and ethically sound, while at the same time reflecting the hopes and concerns of all the involved stakeholders, this book contributes to the continued development of international biobanking by highlighting and analysing the complexities in this important area of research. Academics in the fields of law and ethics, health law and biomedical law, as well as biobank managers and policymakers will find this insightful book a stimulating and engaging read. Contributors include: T. Bossow, T.A. Caulfield, B.J. Clark, A. Hellstadius, J.R. Herrmann, K. Hoyer, M. Jordan, J. Kaye, N.C.H. Kongsholm, K. Liddell, J. Liddicoat, M.J. Madison, T. Minssen, B. Murdoch, W. Nicholson Price II, E. Ortega-Paino, M. Prictor, M.B. Rasmussen, K. Sargsyan, J. Schovsbo, A.M. Tupasela, E. van Zimmeren, F. Vogl, H. Yu, P.K. Yu

This volume presents important analyses of international trade, technology transfer and the global economics of intellectual property rights through selected and key works of Keith E Maskus, spanning his long career. The book includes 17 chapters, ranging from theoretical modeling to empirical and statistical analysis, and policy contributions. Readers will find significant questions addressed in the determinants of trade, foreign direct investment, patents and trade, licensing, parallel imports, and innovation. These chapters span the scope of economic analysis of the globalization of intellectual property and technology transfer, a field in which the author has been a pre-eminent presence.

Riley and her group of expert contributors supply a unique set of worldwide case studies and policy analyses as guidance for indigenous communities and their partners, in attempting to protect their intellectual property. Much of the existing literature already addresses the poor fit between western regimes of intellectual property rights and the requirements for safeguarding indigenous cultural resources. The manuscript gets beyond these negative claims in depicting positive efforts at protecting indigenous knowledge and cultures, notwithstanding these legal limitations. The reader is exposed to a wide array of legal, political, organizational, and contractual strategies deployed by indigenous groups to protect their intellectual property interests. It will be an important resource for social scientists, advocates for indigenous and human rights, bioprospecting, indigenous leaders, NGOs and law libraries.

Piracy and Intellectual Property in Latin America is the first sustained effort to present an alternative framework for understanding piracy and contemporary challenges to global discourses on intellectual property (IP) in the Americas. While piracy might just look like theft and derivative reproduction from the perspective of many right-holders, the contributors to this volume go beyond this economic-driven logic and show how practices of copying are in fact practices of reinvention that reflect the rich social networks and forms of creativity, authorship, commerce, and consumption that characterize informal economies. From a perspective informed by contemporary scenarios in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Guatemala, and the United States, they engage in a discussion of alternatives that-predicated on the importance of protecting culture-allow for other ways of conceiving prosperity at local, national, regional, and global levels. Examples discussed include video games, clothing, trinkets, music, film, TV, and books. Designed to help understand the broader implications of IP and piracy for the field of Latin American studies, this book will be a major contribution to Global South studies, as well as to the growing bibliography on globalization, informal markets, and piracy.

Riley and her group of expert contributors supply a unique set of worldwide case studies and policy analyses as guidance for indigenous communities and their partners, in attempting to protect their intellectual property. Much of the existing literature already addresses the poor fit between western regimes of intellectual property rights and the requirements for safeguarding indigenous cultural resources. The manuscript gets beyond these negative claims in depicting positive efforts at protecting indigenous knowledge and cultures, notwithstanding these legal limitations. The reader is exposed to a wide array of legal, political, organizational, and contractual strategies deployed by indigenous groups to protect their intellectual property interests. It will be an important resource for social scientists, advocates for indigenous and human rights, bioprospecting, indigenous leaders, NGOs and law libraries.

South Korea known as the hermit kingdom was wrenched from its isolation in the mid-seventies with the forced industialisation of its economy by Park Chung-hee during his dictatorial regime. This led South Korea to becoming the most rapidly industialised country in the world with world class technology and a population who are largely digitally proficient. The course is charted from the rule of Park Chung-hee to his democratically elected daughter President Park Geun-hye who is now on trial for corruption. The legacy of the Park to Park era is not only the most fruitful in Korean history but the most tumultuous, most recently because of the accelerated nuclear ambitions of North Korea. The analysis is through the framework of investment, innovation and intellectual property rights and the double edged sword of cult and rapid action, so central to Korean culture.

This book focuses on the thorny and highly topical issue of balancing copyright in the digital age. The idea for it sprang from the often heated debates among intellectual property scholars on the possibilities and the limits of copyright. Copyright law has been broadening its scope for decades now, and as a result it often clashes with other rights (frequently, fundamental rights), raising the question of which right prevails. The papers represent the product of intensive research by experts, who employ rigorous interpretative methodologies while keeping an eye on comparison and on the impacts of new technologies on law. The contributions concentrate on the "propertization" of copyright; on the principle of exhaustion of the distribution right; on the conflict between users' privacy and personal data needs; and on the balance between copyright and academic freedom. Starting from the difficulties inherently connected to the difficult task of balancing rights that respond to opposing interests, each essay analyzes techniques and arguments applied by institutional decision-makers in trying to solve this dilemma. Each author applies a specific methodology involving legal comparison, while taking into account the European framework for copyright and related rights. This work represents a unique piece of scholarship, in which a single issue is read through different lenses, demonstrating the need to reconcile copyright with other fundamental areas of law.

This book presents a compelling attack on the patent system. Thoughtfully analyzing the existing empirical literature and providing her own painstaking study of business method patents, Hazel Moir explains how it is that. . . patents have spread geographically and technologically, with increasingly broad rights becoming ever-easier to obtain. Bravely and persuasively, she recommends policymakers tackle one of the most vexing issues in patent law: the quantum of new knowledge that ought to be required to make an invention worthy of protection.' - Rochelle Dreyfuss, New York University School of Law, US'Hazel Moir's book deserves to become a classic. Between its covers one will find writing of great clarity and data that reveal the real world costs of the patent system. After reading Moir's analysis, one wonders what the actual social benefits of the patent system might be. This is evidence-based analysis at its best.' - Peter Drahos, Australian National University and Queen Mary, University of London, UK 'Just how inventive are inventions? More to the point, just how inventive are the inventions covered by patents? Not very, according to Hazel Moir, and there is no reason to doubt her conclusions. She has spent years in painstakingly analysis of dozens of business method patents in Australia and elsewhere. She finds. . . [t]hey are no more than strategic devices intended to annoy and disrupt commercial competition and confuse the market. . . Hazel Moir is a patent expert beholden to no patent theory and no patent interests. In consequence, her research is fresh and inspired. Her conclusion - that patents describe and protect obvious combinations of old ideas and trivial variations - may not be confined to business methods. It is a conclusion that demands the consideration of policymakers.' - Stuart Macdonald, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland This empirical study uses a scientifically selected sample of patents to assess patent quality. The careful evaluation of the assumptions in alternative economic theories about the generation and diffusion of new knowledge demonstrates that the height of the inventive step is critical to effective and efficient patent policy. The book provides a practical introduction to the policy rules affecting the grant of patents, particularly the rules making the inventive step so low. It also offers insights into interactions between examiners and applicants during the patent application process. Finally, the book compares how the rules about inventiveness operate in the USPTO, the EPO and the Australian Patent Office, gives new insights into business method patenting and offers suggestions for raising the height of the inventive step. Patent Policy and Innovation will appeal to academics researching in the patent field, economists, innovation and industry policy advisors, patent policy makers, NGO policy advisors and patent practitioners. Contents: Preface 1. Introduction 2. The Economics of Patent Policy: Assumptions, Paradoxes and Evidence 3. Who Determines Patent Policy: Judges, Lobbyists or Legislatures? 4. In the National Interest: Defining Patentable Inventions 5. Finding and Avoiding Existing Knowledge 6. Combining Known Elements 7. The Quantum of Inventiveness: Other Approaches and Rules 8. Rebalancing the Patent System Appendix. Original Claims: Selected Patents References Index

This book draws upon domestication science to undertake a radical reappraisal of the jurisprudence of property and intellectual property.

This open access edited book captures the complexities and conflicts arising at the interface of intellectual property rights (IPR) and competition law. To do so, it discusses four specific themes: (a) policies governing functioning of standard setting organizations (SSOs), transparency and incentivising future innovation; (b) issue of royalties for standard essential patents (SEPs) and related disputes; (c) due process principles, procedural fairness and best practices in competition law; and (d) coherence of patent policies and consonance with competition law to support innovation in new technologies. Many countries have formulated policies and re-oriented their economies to foster technological innovation as it is seen as a major source of economic growth. At the same time, there have been tensions between patent laws and competition laws, despite the fact that both are intended to enhance consumer welfare. In this regard, licensing of SEPs has been debated extensively, although in most instances, innovators and implementers successfully negotiate licensing of SEPs. However, there have been instances where disagreements on royalty base and royalty rates, terms of licensing, bundling of patents in licenses, pooling of licenses have arisen, and this has resulted in a surge of litigation in various jurisdictions and also drawn the attention of competition/anti-trust regulators. Further, a lingering lack of consensus among scholars, industry experts and regulators regarding solutions and techniques that are apposite in these matters across jurisdictions has added to the confusion. This book looks at the processes adopted by the competition/anti-trust regulators to apply the principles of due process and procedural fairness in investigating abuse of dominance cases against innovators.

The intersection of the intellectual property and competition laws presents uniquely complicated legal issues. The entries, from leading judges, government officials, academics, and economists, explore history, the 'new economy', and frameworks to resolve the tension between the laws. They also address refusals to license, patent pools, innovation markets, standard setting organizations, and pharmaceutical patent settlements.

There has been little or no study on trademark laws in Asia on a cross-jurisdictional level. This book aims at filling the existing gap and provides a comprehensive overview of trademark laws of eight major Asian jurisdictions and their most-updated trademark case law. The book analyses six of the principal issues that best reflect Asian features in trademark law and trademark development. The cases in the book are principally the most authoritative decisions, usually the first to deal with certain new emerging issues, or the first to apply particular statutory provisions in the respective jurisdiction. Also included are a small number of direction-changing, outlying or even controversial decisions. Each case report is divided into six sections: summary, legal context, facts, reasoning of the court, legal analysis, and commercial or industrial significance. Readers will find this book useful in both its overview of the legal context and how those cases are to be interpreted legally and commercially.

This book is the first to provide a detailed and critical account of the emergence, development, and implementation of plant variety protection laws in Asian countries. Each chapter undertakes a critical socio-legal analysis of one or more legal frameworks to understand, evaluate, and explore the concerns of diverse national stakeholders, the histories and dynamics of law-making, and the ways in which plant variety protection and seed certification laws interact with local agricultural systems. The book also assesses how Asian countries can capitalise on the 'unused policy space' in international agreements such as the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, as well as international obligations beyond these, such as those contained in the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Plant Treaty. It also highlights the many ways in which Asian experiences can offer new insights into the relationship between intellectual property and plants, and how relevant laws might be re-imagined in other regions, including Africa, Europe, and the Americas. By adding an important new perspective to the ongoing debate on intellectual property and plants, this book will appeal to academics, practitioners, and policy-makers engaged in work surrounding intellectual property laws, agricultural biodiversity, and plant breeding.

A much-anticipated new edition of this acclaimed work on intellectual property (IP) in its global context. With intelligent and insightful coverage of IP law from international and comparative perspectives this second edition has been thoroughly revised and expanded. This unique textbook presents the main IP rights, identifying their basic features and tracing their evolution up to the present day by reference to statutes, cases and international treaties. Examining the evolving activities in the international arena, especially debates and new IP rules concerning or impinging on creativity and innovation, consumer choice, trade, economics, social welfare and culture, this innovative textbook considers how these activities interact with developments at regional and domestic levels. Key Features include: Presentation of IP law in a global context, uniquely organised by theme as opposed to by type of IPR for accessibility and ease of learning a comprehensive commentary guiding students through international, regional and comparative IP law examination of the impact of IP on the international stage an interdisciplinary approach considering the global influence of IP in respect of trade, development, law, economics, technology, human rights and biological and cultural diversity, providing readers with extensive knowledge of IP law's reach A key resource for IP courses with a global outlook, Dutfield and Suthersanen on Global Intellectual Property Law will also be of great interest to a number of global institutions. Acclaim for the first edition: 'Dutfield and Suthersanen have skillfully captured in one concise volume all the important things you need to know about international intellectual property law. The materials are accessible, timely, methodically presented and at times critical. The book's detailed, in-depth and comparative analyses provide helpful insights into the increasingly complex international intellectual property system. Global Intellectual Property Law is not only an effective textbook for students interested in the subject, but a desktop companion for policymakers and professionals who need a quick and up-to-date overview of global intellectual property issues.' - Peter K. Yu, Drake University, US and Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China

Economists advise that the law should seek efficiency. More recently, it has been suggested that common law systems are more conducive of economic growth than code-based civil law systems. This book argues that there is no theory to support such statements and provides evidence that rejects a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. Both common law and civil law systems are reviewed to debunk the relationship between the efficiency of the common law hypothesis and the alleged inferiority of codified law systems. Legal Origins and the Efficiency Dilemma has six aims: explaining the efficiency hypothesis of the common law since Posner's 1973 book; summarizing the legal origins theory in the context of economic growth; debunking their relationship; discussing the meaning of 'common law' and the problems with the efficiency hypothesis by comparing laws across English speaking jurisdictions; illustrating the shortcomings of the legal origins theory with a comparative law and economics analysis; and concluding there is no theory and evidence to support the economic superiority of common law systems. Based on previous pieces by the authors, this book expands their work by including new areas of analysis (such as trusts), detailing previous analysis (such as French law versus common law in the areas of contract, property and torts), and updating for recent developments in the academic discourse. This volume is of interest to academics and students who study microeconomics, comparative law and foundations of law, as well as legal policy analysts.

The international intellectual property (IP) law system allows states to develop policies that reflect their national interests. Therefore, although there is an international minimum standards framework in place, states have widely varying IP laws and differing interpretations of these laws. This book examines whether pluralism in IP law is functional when applied to copyright, patents and trademarks on an international basis. The book is divided into four parts which focus on the interaction between global standards and national norms, pluralism within the framework of international norms, pluralistic functions of copyright and the flexibility applied to patent law. Within these themes, topical issues are addressed such as traditional knowledge, geographical indications, protecting plant varieties and freedom of expression. Contributors are drawn from a range of jurisdictions to provide a global outlook on the topics at hand. Researchers and scholars who are interested in international IP law and its applications will find this to be a valuable resource. Policy makers will also benefit from the contributors' insights on whether law reforms in their home jurisdictions have been effective and how these laws interact with the international IP system.

This work constitutes a comprehensive overview of Indonesian intellectual property law since the substantial legislative changes enacted from 1997 onwards. It offers a detailed overview of the Indonesian law and regulation on copyright law, patent law, trademark law, and unfair competition, and analyzes the position of Indonesia with regard to the international conventions for the protection of intellectual property. An introduction on the history and development of the Indonesian legal system provides a context for the understanding of the current legislative framework on intellectual property in the year 2000. The book includes in annex authoritative translations of the main laws covering copyright, patents, and trademarks.

Now in its second edition, Cybercrime: Key Issues and Debates provides a valuable overview of this fast-paced and growing area of law. As technology develops and internet-enabled devices become ever more prevalent, new opportunities exist for that technology to be exploited by criminals. One result of this is that cybercrime is increasingly recognised as a distinct branch of criminal law. The book offers readers a thematic and critical overview of cybercrime, introducing the key principles and clearly showing the connections between topics as well as highlighting areas subject to debate. Written with an emphasis on the law in the UK but considering in detail the Council of Europe's important Convention on Cybercrime, this text also covers the jurisdictional aspects of cybercrime in international law. Themes discussed include crimes against computers, property, offensive content, and offences against the person, and, new to this edition, cybercrime investigation. Clear, concise and critical, this book is designed for students studying cybercrime for the first time, enabling them to get to grips with an area of rapid change.

"International Litigation in Intellectual Property and Information Technology" - Editor: Arnaud Nuyts, Co-Editors: Nikitas Hatzimihail, Katarzyna Szychowska. The pressure to develop an intellectual property litigation framework at a supranational level is enormous. The tensions among technological change, the forces of an ever-more global market, the quest of market actors for tactical advantage and of legal actors for equitable solutions, and the ever-present imperative of the principle of economy in judicial proceedings all cry out for resolution. In the progress toward this framework, the fourteen leading authorities who have put this remarkable symposium together show that European Community law, and particularly its effect on judicial cooperation among Member States in civil and commercial matters, has led and continues to lead the way.This is the first book to emphasize the role of the judicial cooperation aspect of cross-border intellectual property litigation. Starting from European private law as it is currently evolving, the authors focus intensively on the issues surrounding such central questions as the following: how different should the treatment of IP litigation be from other transnational private activity? How different should the treatment of different IP forms be, at least from a private international law perspective? How do the answers to these questions relate to methodological shifts within the discipline of private international law itself?How should the doctrinal solutions we give integrate substantive values such as the EC basic freedoms or new ideas about the meaning of property in the context of intellectual works? What should the relationship be between the rules on jurisdiction and the rules on applicable law? How global or how distinct do we want the European legal regime in this area to be? What should be the coordination and/or allocation of competences between the various international institutions and instruments?The wide-ranging analyzes presented here will contribute substantially to the establishment of a common frame of reference among intellectual property lawyers and private international lawyers, across the EU and on a global scale. For policymakers, practitioners, and academics in international IP law, this book offers food for thought for legislative projects, reviews and renews doctrines in private international law and the transnational legal treatment of intellectual property, and affirms a forward-looking dialogue on these crucial matters.