Traditional knowledge is largely oral collective of knowledge, beliefs, and practices of indigenous people on sustainable use and management of resources. The survival of this knowledge is at risk due to various difficulties faced by the holders of this knowledge, the threat to the cultural survival of many communities, and the international lack of respect and appreciation of traditional knowledge. However, the greatest threat is that of appropriation by commercial entities in derogation of the rights of the original holders. Though this practice is morally questionable, in the absence of specific legal provisions, it cannot be regarded as a crime. Intellectual Property Rights and the Protection of Traditional Knowledge is a collection of innovative research on methods for protecting indigenous knowledge including studies on intellectual property rights and sovereignty rights. It also analyzes the contrasting interests of developing and developed countries in the protection of traditional knowledge as an asset. While highlighting topics including biopiracy, dispute resolution, and patent law, this book is ideally designed for legal experts, students, industry professionals, and practitioners seeking current research on the development and enforcement of intellectual property rights in relation to traditional knowledge.

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 fields of intellectual property have broadened and deepened in so many ways that commentators struggle to keep up with the ceaseless rush of developments and hot topics. Kritika: Essays on Intellectual Property is a series that is designed to help authors escape this rush. It creates a forum for authors who wish to more deeply question, investigate and reflect upon the evolving themes and principles of the discipline. This third volume of Kritika again brings together leading scholars from different fields and disciplines. Their essays reflect on some of the big problems in the field, addressing issues such as the way that institutions like WIPO continue with their propertization missions, how the bells of lobbyists toll incessantly for new data rights, and the ways in which discourses of human rights and information justice struggle to turn intellectual property from an instrument of private accumulation into one of service for the common good. Important questions in the field are also tackled, for example, how does the Islamic view of knowledge as life cohere with intellectual property, at a time when, as other essays show, intellectual property grounds new forms of state imperium? With contributions from: Sara Bannerman; Shamnad Basheer; Rahul Bajaj; Mohammed El Said; Blayne Haggart; Thomas Hoeren; P. Bernt Hugenholtz and Fiona Macmillan

When submitting patent applications, patentees are disclosing huge amounts of technical knowledge that can be utilised for development. This book investigates whether it is possible to execute the disclosed technologies just by reading the patent application. Nefissa Chakroun argues that while TRIPS Agreement obliges inventors to disclose full and complete disclosure, patent information users lack the capacity to fully utilise such information for their economic development. Scrutinising the disclosure and the development function of the patent system, the book offers a critical analysis of the disclosure requirements of the patent system and an in-depth examination of ways of accessing and retrieving patent information. Chakroun articulates proposals for strengthening the disclosure and methods for enhancing retrieval and exploitation of the technological knowledge, including an integrated policy on how patent information could be better utilised for development. A plea for patent information as a significant source for development, this book is not only a valuable contribution to the literature but designed for policymakers at international and national levels to address core issues related to the exploitation of patent information for incremental innovation.

The TRIPS Agreement (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), signed on April 15, 1994, introduced intellectual property protection into the World Trade Organization's multilateral trading system for the first time, and it remains the most comprehensive international agreement on intellectual property to date. A Neofederalist Vision of TRIPS by Graeme B. Dinwoodie and Rochelle C. Dreyfuss examines its interpretation, its impact on the creative environment, and its effect on national and international lawmaking. It propounds a vision of TRIPS as creating a neofederalist regime, one that will ensure the resilience of the international intellectual property system in time of rapid change. In this vision, WTO members retain considerable flexibility to tailor intellectual property law to their national priorities and to experiment with changes necessary to meet new technological and social challenges, but agree to operate within an international framework. This framework, while less powerful than the central administration of a federal government, comprises a series of substantive and procedural commitments that promote the coordination of both the present intellectual property system as well as future international intellectual property lawmaking. Part I demonstrates the centrality of state autonomy throughout the history of international negotiations over intellectual property. Part II, which looks at the present, analyzes the decisions of the WTO in intellectual property cases. It concludes that the WTO has been inattentive to the benefits of promoting cultural diversity, the values inherent in intellectual property, the rich fabric of its law and lore, the necessary balance between producers and users of knowledge goods, and the relationship between the law and the technological environment in which it must operate. Looking to the future, Part III develops a framework for integrating the increasingly fragmented international system and proposes the recognition of an international intellectual property acquis, a set of longstanding principles that have informed, and should continue to inform intellectual property lawmaking. The acquis would include both express and latent components of the international regime, put access-regarding guarantees such as user rights on a par with proprietary interests and enshrine the fundamental importance of national autonomy in the international system.

This book discusses patent legal issues regarding inventions in the field of biotechnology. The scope of a patent is of central concern, and since biotechnology is very different from other technologies, the requirements for disclosure and infringement are in focus. Eligibility issues are touched upon, although from more of an explanatory perspective, since the law is settled in this respect. The material for the analyses includes the European practices under the EPC, those of the United Kingdom, Germany, and the US. The mandated exclusions from patentability under the European patent laws of categories of plant and animal subject matter and certain biological processes are also analysed. Claim interpretation is the common theme. The challenge has been to present a comprehensive basis for grasping the substantive law for the field of biotechnology. The book examines thoroughly the differences between practices, and the consequences of those differences for the possibility of being granted a patent for an invention, and the infringement doctrines' effects for what might be called a patent's 'after-life', i.e. the scope of its protection. As for the exclusions from patentability in Europe, the study reveals an inherent inconsistency in article 53(b) EPC, warranting an adjusted and more patent-legal understanding of the concepts. The principal message emerging in this book is the importance of relying on the policy arguments of uniformity and predictability in order to preserve a fair balance between an inventor and third parties, since in reality much of the controversy in this field turns on proper protection.

As a 'Specialized Agency' of the UN, the World Intellectual Property Organization aims to be the premier global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation. Whilst many individuals, firms, institutions and governments know and use WIPO services, the ways in which it functions, how priorities are set and decisions made are less well-understood. Indeed, a diversity of WIPO's stakeholders and member governments express frustration that WIPO's governance is not only complex but at times opaque.This practical guide offers a unique insight into how WIPO is governed, described in clear, readily accessible terms for policymakers, scholars and stakeholders. The guide reviews the origins of WIPO and sets out its current functions and activities, presenting a framework for analysing WIPO's complex governance system. The core of the text will improve the reader's understanding of WIPO in five thematic areas: - Legal foundations, mandate and purpose - Decision-making structures, processes and practices - Financial arrangements (such as income sources and the budget process) - Mechanisms for accountability and control of the Secretariat (such as policies on oversight, audit and evaluation) - Transparency and external relations. The text is accompanied by a number of valuable appendices, including key documents that have, to date, not been readily available to the public. Written by a leading WIPO commentator, The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): A Reference Guide is the first comprehensive reference book to illuminate the nuts and bolts of WIPO governance. It will prove an invaluable and handy resource for those who interact with WIPO on any level, as well as to researchers seeking an introduction to how the organisation works.

Concentrating on international intellectual property law, this volume is a collection of works by current authors in the field. Their work is supplemented by numerous essays and notes prepared by the editors. The controlling provisions of the major treaties in the field are included in a comprehensive appendix. The editors have organized the book according to the theories underlying the protection of international intellectual property rights. For example, they have considered the historical and philosophical foundation of copyright protection in the context of the protection of culture and personality, while issues regarding compulsory licensing to ensure public use of certain forms of intellectual property have been illustrated by examples drawn from patent protection. The problem of "harmonization" is addressed through many diverse examples from intellectual property protection. And the closely-related field of the protection of cultural patrimony is also included.

This work analyses the scope of copyright protection for computer software in the United Kingdom, and examines challenges for the future. The work presents the case for the adoption and application of infringement methodology, emanating from the courts in the United States, resulting in a narrower scope of protection than is presently argued for by many UK academics, practitioners and judges alike. The work makes a careful evaluation of the efficacy of the various prevailing tests for infringement of copyright in software and their progenies, suggesting an improved formula and advocating the utility, of limiting doctrines to assist in the determination of substantial similarity of particular non-literal software elements, user interfaces and screen display protection. The monograph also contains a detailed study of reverse engineering, copyright defences, permitted acts, database protection and the copyright-contract interface in the context of computer software, not omitting crucial discussions of the internet, digital dissemination and the impact of recent treaty, and legislative initiatives on British copyright law. As such it will be an important resource for practitioners, lecturers and students alike.

This work examines the scope of authors' rights in relation to the exploitation of their works by broadcasting, whether terrestrial or by satellite, cabling or over computer networks, in three important jurisdictions and under relevant international conventions. The analysis traces the gradual expansion of the various exclusive rights granted by copyright law in response to technological developments and puts them in their modern context, focusing on the overarching right of public performance or communication. The author argues that the advent of modern technologies, which recognize no national boundaries, necessitate the adoption of an internationally harmonized concept of "communication to the public" as the primary right applicable to the dissemination of copyright works in non-material form.

The long-awaited European Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court will soon become a reality. Companies, research institutions, and individuals will be able to obtain not only a patent title with immediate effect in 25 EU Member States, but also a court decision on (for example) infringement or validity of a European or Unitary patent with effect in the participating Member States. Everybody involved in European patenting will find enormously welcome guidance in this extraordinary book. Written by two outstanding intellectual property experts - one being a lawyer who had a hand in the development of the unitary patent and the other being a reputed Belgian intellectual property judge - it describes in detail all the provisions regarding the new patent and the new court, explaining their rationales and the processes that led to them. Although the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court still need to be finalized and adopted by the Court, the authors already unravel the proposed Draft Rules of Procedure. The book uses flowcharts as well as plain words to represent each procedural stage of the Draft Rules of Procedure. In this way, a practitioner can focus on each distinct stage as required, while also gaining a comprehensive overview of the proceedings. The complex language issues arising throughout the proceedings are analysed in detail in a supplementary part.

Since its passage in 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ("AIA") has brought many significant changes to U.S. patent law. Accordingly, to assist readers in developing an in-depth understanding of these changes, the America Invents Act Primer provides discussions of each and every one of the AIA's substantive provisions. More specifically, and whenever possible, each discussion of the AIA's provisions includes the following key features: An identification of the AIA section's effective date, including the statutory basis for such dates; A direct comparison of relevant pre- and post-AIA statutes; An analysis of the similarities and differences between pre- and post-AIA statutes; A discussion of the legislative goals that were addressed by the AIA section; and An analysis of the practical implications of the changes made by the AIA section. The America Invents Act Primer additionally highlights a number of free resources that can be utilized by readers to attain a deeper understanding of the AIA, including resources that explain how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is applying the new law. Overall, the America Invents Act Primer provides a unique and practical desk reference on the AIA that is sure to be useful for years to come.

Intellectual Property Rights in a Networked World is a collection of recent essays offering some fresh perspectives on the scope and future of intellectual property rights. The tripartite division of the book is designed to make this interdisciplinary topic more accessible and intelligible to readers of diverse backgrounds. Part I consists of a single essay that provides a broad overview of the main themes in intellectual property scholarship, such as normative intellectual property theory and the legal infrastructure for property protection. The second section of the book presents several essays that are intended to deepen the reader's understanding of intellectual property theory and show how it can help us to grapple with the proper allocation of property rights in cyberspace. And the final section further develops the themes in Part II but in greater detail and with a more practical orientation. For the most part, the essays in this section illustrate the costs and benefits of applying property rights to cyberspace. While intellectual property rights create dynamic incentive effects, they also entail social costs, and they are sometimes in tension with the development of a robust public domain.

Taking the invention as its object of study, this book develops a radical new perspective on the making of modern patent law. It develops an extended historical and conceptual exploration of the invention in modern patent law. Focussing primarily on the figures that make inventions material, and on how to overcome the intangibility of ideas, this intellectual challenging book makes explicit a dimension of patent law that is not commonly found in traditional commentaries, treatises and cases. The story is told from the perspective of the material media in which the intangible form of the invention is made visible; namely, models, texts, drawings, and biological specimens. This approach brings to light for the first time some essential formative moments in the history of patent law. For example, Figures of Invention describes the central role that scale models played in the making of nineteenth-century patent jurisprudence, the largely mythical character of the nineteenth-century theory that patents texts should function as a means of disclosing inventions, and the profound conceptual changes that emerged from debates as to how to represent and disclose the first biological inventions. At the same time, this historical inquiry also reveals the basic conceptual architecture of modern patent law. The story of how inventions were represented is also the story of the formation of the modern concept of invention, or of the historical processes that shaped the terms in which patent lawyers still apprehend the intangible form of the invention. Although the analysis focuses on the history of patent law in the United States, it develops themes that illuminate the evolution of patent regimes in Europe. In combining close historical analysis with broad thematic reflection, Figures of Invention makes a distinctive contribution both to the field of patent law scholarship and to emerging interdisciplinary debates about the constitution of patent law and of intellectual property in general.

Patent rights depend on many interpretive elements, including even the patent's subject matter and the question of who owns the right. Such elements lead to varying legal approaches in different countries and, since it is in the nature of inventions to be international, knowledge of patent law in a variety of national jurisdictions is an indispensable asset for patent lawyers and their clients. This book provides that essential knowledge as it relates to the patent laws of Japan together with English translations of main provisions of the Patent Law. It provides a systematic and concise analysis of theoretical issues and information of practical usefulness (such as examination guidelines of the Japanese Patent Office) as well as analysis of important case law. With detailed attention to both substantive and procedural law, the author's thorough exposition covers such features of Japanese patent law as the following: requirements for patentability; provisions for invention by employee; assignment of invention before application; application of foreign language documents; limitation on effect of patents; effects of bukken (right in rem) and saiken (person-to-person claim); procedure before the Patent Office; civil remedies for infringement of patents; case law interpreting "negligence"; measures for recovery of damage to reputation; establishment of security interests; administrative law suit procedure; appellate review; and, procedure before Japan's Intellectual Property High Court. "The Essentials of Japanese Patent Law" clearly explains the way in which patents may be registered and protected under Japanese law, and will be of inestimable value to counsel for inventors and enterprises everywhere. No patent lawyers or other intellectual property professionals will want to be without it.

This volume take the reader through the legal and accounting principles that govern the valuation of assets. A crucial problem for legal, accounting, banking and venture capital professionals, it is also important to owners and managers of IP assets.

'This book guides us expertly through the controversial area of originality, a concept which lies at the very foundation of copyright law, but which has never before been analysed in any depth as a topic in its own right. Originality has however now become a hot topic, given the controversial recent case law of the EU Court of Justice on it, and the manner in which some national courts in the EU are seeking to apply it, which makes this book especially timely.' - Trevor Cook, Bird & Bird LLP, UK 'This text has been well drafted and documented, the legal analysis is sound and competent and the author manages to provide useful insights into UK and US law. She also manages to put her subject in perspective, taking into account the inevitable policy issues, which, however, could be extended to what the actual role of the court is in the much-debated EU copyright harmonisation. I strongly recommend reading this book.' - Irini Stamatoudi, European Intellectual Property Review Full harmonization of the copyright laws of EU Member States has long been a holy grail for copyright lawyers, but with the reality thus far being only limited harmonization resulting from ad-hoc legislative interventions, there are serious questions over the feasibility and indeed desirability of this goal. Notwithstanding, as this book makes eloquently clear, whilst legislative initiatives have been limited, the CJEU has been acting proactively, establishing through its decisional practice the de facto harmonization of an important principle of copyright: the originality requirement. Through an assessment of the originality requirement, this work guides the reader in interpreting judicial decisions which are of fundamental importance to current and future understanding of EU copyright. The book's holistic approach and methodology takes in analysis of; recent decisions of the CJEU in light of broader EU copyright reform debate; the implications of CJEU case law in Member States which have traditionally adopted different approaches to copyright (eg the UK); the originality requirement in EU, UK and continental Member States; recent UK decisions from an EU perspective; and academic copyright reform projects, both in Europe and the US. Originality in EU Copyright will appeal to academics, policymakers and EU officers, students, practitioners and in-house counsels. Contents: Foreword Table of Cases (in Chronological Order) Table of EU/EC/EEC Legislation (in Chronological Order) Table of EU/EC Policy Documents (in Chronological Order) Introduction 1. The Challenges of EU Copyright: 'United in Diversity' - Does it Work? 2. Originality as a Policy Tool: Shaping the Breadth of Protection 3. Originality in a Work, or a Work of Originality: The Effects of the Infopaq Decision 4. The CJEU Goes Ahead: The Decisions in Murphy, Painer, Football Dataco and SAS 5. Challenging the UK Understanding of Copyright: Originality and Subject-matter Categorization at the Forefront of the Debate 6. The Future of Copyright at the EU Level: The Shape of Harmonization Bibliography Index

This book focuses on database law (a branch of intellectual property law) and further explores the legal protection currently available for data and data-related products in India. It offers a comparative study of the position of copyright law in protecting databases in the US and EU, while also presenting responses from the Indian database industry and its aspirations regarding the role of copyright law in database protection. India is undoubtedly leading the way as a knowledge economy. Its strengths are its information technology capability and its knowledge society, as well as its booming database industry - aspects that also necessitate the study of the role of law, as well as the protection of data and databases, in India. This book examines the growing importance of copyright law for protecting databases as well as for ensuring access in information societies. The book concludes with a discussion of key principles to be kept in mind in the context of drafting legal regimes for databases in India that will both benefit the database industry and ensure accessibility.

Taking as its point of departure the lapse of the Licensing Act 1662 in 1695, this book examines the lead up to the passage of the Statute of Anne 1709 and charts the movement of copyright law throughout the eighteenth century, culminating in the House of Lords decision of Donaldson v Becket (1774). The established reading of copyright's development throughout this period, from the 1709 Act to the pronouncement in Donaldson, is that it was transformed from a publisher's to an author's right; instead, legislation initially designed to regulate the marketplace of the bookseller and publisher evolved into an instrument that functioned to recognise the proprietary inevitability of an author's intellectual labours. The historical narrative which unfolds within this book presents a challenge to that accepted orthodoxy. century Britain is revealed as exhibiting the character of long-standing myth, and the centrality of the modern proprietary author as the raison d'etre of the copyright regime is displaced, being replaced with a more nuanced account of legal change driven by complex interactions between the protagonists, resulting in a copyright regime which was quite different from that anticipated by the reformers.

Metaphors, moral panics, folk devils, Jack Valenti, Joseph Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes, predictable irrationality, and free market fundamentalism are a few of the topics covered in this lively, unflinching examination of the Copyright Wars: the pitched battles over new technology, business models, and most of all, consumers.
In Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars, William Patry lays bare how we got to where we are: a bloated, punitive legal regime that has strayed far from its modest, but important roots. Patry demonstrates how copyright is a utilitarian government program--not a property or moral right. As a government program, copyright must be regulated and held accountable to ensure it is serving its public purpose. Just as Wall Street must serve Main Street, neither can copyright be left to a Reaganite "magic of the market."
The way we have come to talk about copyright--metaphoric language demonizing everyone involved--has led to bad business and bad policy decisions. Unless we recognize that the debates over copyright are debates over business models, we will never be able to make the correct business and policy decisions.
A centrist and believer in appropriately balanced copyright laws, Patry concludes that calls for strong copyright laws, just like calls for weak copyright laws, miss the point entirely: the only laws we need are effective laws, laws that further the purpose of encouraging the creation of new works and learning. Our current regime, unfortunately, creates too many bad incentives, leading to bad conduct. Just as President Obama has called for re-tooling and re-imagining the auto industry, Patry calls for a remaking of our copyright laws so that they may once again be respected.

Virtually every jurisdiction is developing private international law rules to deal with trusts and similar ring-fenced structures. With the increasing impact of globalization, business interests throughout the world are intent on maximizing the potential of such structures for raising funds, lowering risks and cutting costs. As a result, numerous complex issues involving the traditional categories of settlor, beneficiary and fiduciary are being radically transformed. This text offers analyses, by 16 authorities in the field, of a broad range of trust-related issues. The many insights in this book reveal the workings of such issues as: the disappearing divergence between common law and civil law jurisdictions in the matter of trusts; using the segregated fund concept to manage the risk of insolvency; the demise of the "amateur trustee" in the charitable trust sector; why loss to the fund supersedes particular losses of beneficiaries; the legal dimensions of hiding ownership by "giving" property to trustees; the intervention of public policy in questions of perpetuity; the selective imposition of OECD and FTF transparency initiatives on offshore jurisdictions; and "policing" of trustee behaviour by beneficiaries. Lawyers, bankers and others dealing with investment and business finance should find much information as well as food for thought in this book, as should those involved in the traditional trust industry, whether as trustees or lawyers or fund managers. Most of the essays in this collection were originally prepared for presentation at a conference held in 2001 at King's College London.

This book centers on estate planning with code sections, regulations, court cases and experiences involved in estate planning. It was written over 5 years with excitement, pain, love and hate. It was designed for the regular person to understand because the Internal Revenue Code is not user-friendly, never was and never will be until Congress decides differently. While there are technical areas in this book, there is also an effort to explain those areas in everyday terms so the reader can easily get the point of estate planning. You must read the section on Being A Consultant - Absolutely Brutal!

This book applies a novel conflict-based approach to the notions of `idea', `concept', `invention' and `immateriality' in the legal regime of intellectual property rights by turning to the adversarial legal practices in which they occur. In doing so, it provides extensive ethnographies of the courts and law firms, and tackles classical questions in legal doctrine about the immaterial nature of intellectual property rights from a thoroughly new perspective. The book follows the legal proceedings of disputes in patent, copyright and trademark law as they circulate from the sites of enterprises, through the offices of law firms, the court registry, the courtroom and the judge's office, until they finally arrive at judgment. In this way, the central matters of a dispute are gradually transformed into immaterial works, inventions, or signs through the ceaseless `material' operations of legal practices. This analysis sheds light on how seemingly abstract philosophical notions are rendered workable as concrete legal concepts with important consequences. Grounds of the Immaterial offers an inventive and refreshing take on intellectual property rights which will be valued by academics and students in philosophy, legal theory, legal anthropology and intellectual property.