This book evaluates the risks that China's intellectual property (IP) regime poses to innovation. China's IP regime has been heavily criticized as potentially stifling innovation. However, the country's innovation capabilities have risen significantly and major reforms have recently been made to its IP regime. How risky, really, is China's IP regime for innovation? This book investigates this question at different units of analysis based on a multidisciplinary assessment involving law, management, economics, and political science. Specifically, it critically appraises China's substantive IP laws, measures for boosting patent quantity and quality, measures for transmitting and exploiting technological knowledge, new experimental IP measures, and China's systems for administering and enforcing IP. Practitioners and scholars from various backgrounds can benefit from the up-to-date analysis as well as the practical managerial tools provided, including risk assessment matrices for businesses and recommendations for institutional reform.

During the past few decades, private equity (PE) has attracted considerable attention from investors, practitioners, and academicians. In fact, a substantial literature on PE has emerged. PE offers benefits for institutional and private wealth management clients including diversification and enhancement of risk-adjusted returns. However, the lack of transparency, regulatory restrictions, and liquidity concerns that exist for some PE options limit their attractiveness for some investors. Private Equity: Opportunities and Risks offers a synthesis of the theoretical and empirical literature on PE in both emerging and developed markets. The book examines PE and provides important insights about topics such as major types of PE (venture capital, leveraged, buyouts, mezzanine capital, and distressed debt investments), how PE works, performance and measurement, uses and structure, and trends. Readers can gain an in-depth understanding about PE from academics and practitioners from around the world. Private Equity: Opportunities and Risks provides a fresh look at the intriguing yet complex subject of PE. A group of renowned experts take readers through the core topics and issues of PE, and also examine the latest trends and cutting-edge developments in the field. Additionally, discussion of research on PE permeates the book. The coverage extends from discussing basic concepts and their application to increasingly complex and real-world situations. Thus, this volume spans the gamut from theoretical to practical, while offering a useful balance of detailed and user-friendly coverage. This fresh and intriguing examination of PE is essential reading for anyone hoping to gain a better understanding of PE, from seasoned professionals to those aspiring to enter the demanding world of finance.

For this comprehensive collection, the editor has brought together key readings on the subject of the law and economics of intellectual property rights - patents, copyrights and trademarks. It provides a judicious selection of the most important published research on this crucial topic, drawing equally from the law and economics literature. It thus brings together frequently cited classic articles that are rarely encountered in a single published source. The articles have been selected on the basis of three primary criteria: their continuing influence in legal and economic discussions; their longevity (important in a field where the volume of published work is very large and growing very quickly); and their relevance to contemporary theoretical and policy debates. The chosen writings delve deeply into theory, empirics, and institutional detail, ranging from Edwin Mansfield's early, influential study on patents and imitation costs, to very recent work on the relationship between copyright law and the first amendment. This collection makes an indispensable desk reference for scholars of intellectual property rights.

The so-called Quistclose trust probably represents the single most important application of equitable principles in commercial life. (Lord Millett in the foreword to this book). The decision of the House of Lords in Twinsectra v Yardley has refocused attention on the Quistclose trust. Although accepted by insolvency lawyers as a convenient tool for corporate rescue, the precise basis of the trust has always been in doubt. The purpose of these essays is to explore the foundations of the trust and subject them to a searching analysis. Contributors: Robert Stevens (Oxford), 'Rolls Razor Ltd'; William Swadling (Oxford), 'Orthodoxy'; James Penner (LSE), 'Lord Millett's Analysis'; Lionel Smith (McGill), 'Understanding the Power'; Robert Chambers (Alberta),'Restrictions on the Use of Money'; Peter Birks (Oxford),'Retrieving Tied Money'; Ewan McKendrick (Oxford), 'Commerce'; Robert Stevens (Oxford), 'Insolvency'; George Gretton (Edinburgh),'Scotland'.

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

The Development Agenda is the result of the recent campaign to ensure that the intellectual property treaty regime permits -- and, indeed, empowers -- developing countries to tailor their intellectual property laws as they deem necessary to promote development and serve the welfare of their citizens. The Agenda's adoption by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in September 2007 was an historic watershed for that UN agency, which has long viewed its mandate as the unabashed promotion of greater intellectual property rights throughout the world.
Written by some of the world's leading IP scholars, Neil W. Netanel has edited this compilation of articles in order to examine the Development Agenda and the broader issues it touches upon. Contributors include leading scholars from various disciplines, including economics, political science, and law, and from countries at various stages of development, including China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Nigeria, Egypt, and Israel, in addition to the US, Canada, and EU. They also include experts from NGO-think tanks, UNCTAD, and the two Brazilian diplomats who were the leading advocates of the Development Agenda's adoption.

"This Handbook is sure to become the ultimate sourcebook for everyone involved in the emerging field of nanotechnology. I would strongly recommend that any entrepreneur who wishes to begin a nanotechnology company and any investor who wishes to seek funding opportunities in nanotechnology read this work cover to cover. By providing the tools to evaluate this emerging discipline, it is a modern day Pilgrims Progress for professionals in the field."
-Doug Jamison, President and CEO, Harris & Harris Group, Inc.

"This Handbook adeptly explores the complex challenges nanotechnology poses for policy makers and the business community with regard to regulations, intellectual property rights, export control issues, and public and private financing. As a member of Congress active in advancing the development of nanotechnology, I will make great use of the conclusions the authors reach and the recommendations they make as I work with my colleagues on crafting future nanotechnology policy."
-U.S. Representative Mike Honda (CA)
member, House of Representatives Committee on Science

"Chapter by chapter, this book provides comprehensive discussions of the forces that drive the business of nanotechnology today, providing invaluable assistance in avoiding the pitfalls that await start-ups and long-standing corporations alike. It captures the journey we've been through these last few years, and offers the lessons we've learned to those who follow. Every new CEO or CFO of a high-tech company will find this book an invaluable resource."
-John H. Belk, Boeing Technology Ventures, Phantom Works
Chairman, Nanotechnology Steering Committee

"Miller and his colleagues haveattempted a Herculean task and have succeeded with great aplomb. The chapters on FDA review, EPA regulations, and export controls are particularly valuable and not easily accessible elsewhere. Value creation in a nanotech firm is all about intellectual property, and Miller's team excels in this area. The authors are also very adroit at putting a spin on business issues as they specifically apply to nanotech."
-David E. Reisner, PhD, President & CEO of The Nano Group(TM), Inc.
its subsidiaries, Inframat(R) Corp. and US Nanocorp(R), Inc.

"This is the first book to offer in-depth coverage of business, legal, and policy issues for the field of nanotechnology. It is a great resource for anyone seeking to read about the early leaders in nanotechnology business, as well as an authoritative guide for navigating the maze of legal and policy issues facing emerging nanotechnology enterprises."
-Stephen Maebius, Partner at law firm of Foley & Lardner
Leader of the Nanotechnology Industry Team

Based on empirical research, this innovative book explores issues of performativity and authorship in the theatre world under copyright law and addresses several inter-connected questions: who is the author and first owner of a dramatic work? Who gets the credit and the licensing rights? What rights do the performers of the work have? Given the nature of theatre as a medium reliant on the re-use of prior existing works, tropes, themes and plots, what happens if an allegation of copyright infringement is made against a playwright? Furthermore, who possesses moral rights over the work? To evaluate these questions in the context of theatre, the first part of the book examines the history of the dramatic work both as text and as performative work. The second part explores the notions of authorship and joint authorship under copyright law as they apply to the actual process of creating plays, referring to legal and theatrical literature, as well as empirical research. The third part looks at the notion of copyright infringement in the context of theatre, noting that cases of alleged theatrical infringement reach the courts comparatively rarely in comparison with music cases, and assessing the reasons for this with respect to empirical research. The fourth part examines the way moral rights of attribution and integrity work in the context of theatre. The book concludes with a prescriptive comment on how law should respond to the challenges provided by the theatrical context, and how theatre should respond to law. Very original and innovative, this book proposes a ground-breaking empirical approach to study the implications of copyright law in society and makes a wonderful case for the need to consider the reciprocal influence between law and practice.

This book focusses on the debates concerning aspects of intellectual property law that bear on access to medicines in a set of developing countries. Specifically, the contributors look at measures that regulate the acquisition, recognition, and use of patent rights on pharmaceuticals and trade secrets in data concerning them, along with the conditions under which these rights expire so as to permit the production of cheaper generic drugs. In addition, the book includes commentary from scholars in human rights, international institutions, and transnational activism. The case studies presented from 11 Latin American countries, have many commonalities in terms of economics, legal systems, and political histories, and yet they differ in the balance each has struck between proprietary interests and access concerns. The book documents this cross-country variation in legal norms and practice, identifies the factors that have led to differences in result, and theorizes as to how differentials among these countries occur and why they endure within a common transnational regulatory regime. The work concludes by putting the results of the investigations into a global administrative law frame and offers suggestions on institutional mechanisms for considering the trade-offs between health and wealth.

"Knowledge commons" describes the institutionalized community governance of the sharing and, in some cases, creation, of information, science, knowledge, data, and other types of intellectual and cultural resources. It is the subject of enormous recent interest and enthusiasm with respect to policymaking about innovation, creative production, and intellectual property. Taking that enthusiasm as its starting point, Governing Knowledge Commons argues that policymaking should be based on evidence and a deeper understanding of what makes commons institutions work. It offers a systematic way to study knowledge commons, borrowing and building on Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning research on natural resource commons. It proposes a framework for studying knowledge commons that is adapted to the unique attributes of knowledge and information, describing the framework in detail and explaining how to put it into context both with respect to commons research and with respect to innovation and information policy. Eleven detailed case studies apply and discuss the framework exploring knowledge commons across a wide variety of scientific and cultural domains.

This work on the law of pension trusts comprehensively fills a gap in the provision of good commentary on pensions law, both from a practical and scholarly perspective. Responding to a paucity of up-to-date publications in this area, David Pollard provides the most detailed treatment available of trust law as it relates to occupational pension schemes. The book provides answers to difficult problems in pensions law often not covered by statute, including trustees' obligations to employers, how spouses and dependents rank as beneficiaries and implied duties owed by employers. Pollard deals with the issues of most concern to practitioners in pensions law, including trustees' investment and amendment powers, and trustee investment duties. This practical guidance is supported and enhanced by incisive academic analysis. Written by a leading pensions practitioner, this book is a must have for all practitioners and scholars in the field.

This collection of essays highlights the sometimes absurd outcomes which an unjustified overprotection of intellectual property (IP) may lead to. It collects and comments on a series of IP disputes which have taken the notion of IP protection to extremes. From individuals being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars for sharing a playlist, to sports spectators being arrested for wearing the 'wrong' dresses, passing through granting patents for inventions obtained by misappropriating traditional knowledge, and trademark protection of merely descriptive signs, this book brings together a broad range of examples from across the IP spectrum where protection and enforcement have been used or threatened on unreasonable and/or untenable grounds. The aim of the book is to criticise these excesses precisely because they harm IP; and because they contribute to creating an environment where more and more people are led to 'hate' IP, and view it as a protectionist regime which discourages creativity in innovation and ends up safeguarding the owners of monopolistic rights which restrict trade, competition and people's freedom. This is not, therefore, a book against IP, it is instead a call for change and an attempt to 'save' IP through critiquing its excesses and preventing such a fascinating area of law from continuing to be an easy target for criticism. The book includes a foreword by Jason Mazzone, Albert E Jenner Jr Professor of Law at the University of Illinois, USA.

Exploring obstacles to effective compensation of victims of competition infringements, this book categorises the types of victims harmed and the types of losses arisen from these infringements to identify to what extent there is a need for enhanced private competition law enforcement in the European Union (EU) and the best way to address this need. It shows that there is a genuine need for facilitating consumer damages actions and that consumer claims are the only claims that can be pursued in a collective redress action. In order to compensate consumers and overcome barriers to effective enforcement of their right to damages, it structures a collective redress action for consumers by considering the following elements: i. the formation of the group, ii. the type of representative party iii. funding mechanisms and iv. calculation and distribution of damages.

Design occupies an important place in the modern world, and European legislatures have made many attempts, both technical and legal, to protect works of design. The proposals by the European Community for a Directive and Regulation in this area are a response to the widely perceived need for a homogeneous and systematic protection of designs. These initiatives, however, should be considered in light of the many interests at stake and the various solutions proposed in the wake of the Community's past experience in the field of patents and trademarks. This commentary presents both an analysis of the complete texts of the proposals in their "historical" context through annotation of the preparatory stages in the legislative process, as well as an in-depth interpretation of the provisions, seen through the eyes of some of the leading experts in the field.

The 7th edition of Understanding Equity and Trusts provides a clear, accessible and lively overview of the main themes in this dynamic area of the law. An ideal first point of entry to the subject or revision tool, this book will give you an invaluable grounding in all of the key principles of equity and the law of trusts. This book covers all of the topics that a student reader will encounter in any trusts law or equity course. The text deals with express trusts, resulting and constructive trusts, the duties of trustees, breach of trust and tracing, commercial uses of trusts, charities, equitable remedies and trusts of homes.

This book discusses the main legal and economic challenges to the creation and enforcement of security rights in intellectual property and explores possible avenues of reform, such as more specific rules for security in IP rights and better coordination between intellectual property law and secured transactions law. In the context of business financing, intellectual property rights are still only reluctantly used as collateral, and on a small scale. If they are used at all, it is mostly done in the form of a floating charge or some other "all-asset" security right. The only sector in which security rights in intellectual property play a major role, at least in some jurisdictions, is the financing of movies. On the other hand, it is virtually undisputed that security rights in intellectual property could be economically valuable, or even crucial, for small and medium-sized enterprises - especially for start-ups, which are often very innovative and creative, but have limited access to corporate financing and must rely on capital markets (securitization, capital market). Therefore, they need to secure bank loans, yet lack their own traditional collateral, such as land.

This assembly of writings by scholars, lawyers, and judges on the law and policy of trademarks and unfair competition presents a rich offering that ranges across time, place, and perspective. The challenge of revealing the subject s full scope to the interested tyro and yet making experts wonder how they had somehow overlooked this or that critical article is fully met. Professors Dinwoodie and Janis and their publisher deserve thanks for bringing this treasure trove within reach of all with an interest in why and how brands are regulated.' - David Vaver, Osgoode Hall Law School, Canada and University of Oxford, UKThis comprehensive two-volume collection of leading articles in trademark and unfair competition law spans almost a century and three continents, bringing together the most influential and significant scholarly work in this exciting field. These essential volumes, with a new and original introduction by two leading contemporary writers, are organized in a way that highlights essential concepts and will be invaluable both for those taking their first steps in the area and for those seeking to re-acquaint themselves with the classics. 44 articles, dating from 1925 to 2010 Contributors include: B. Beebe, L. Bently, R.S. Brown Jr., W. Cornish, R. Dreyfuss, A. Kur, J. Litman, R. Posner, F. Schechter

Both antitrust and intellectual property laws are intended to facilitate economic growth. Antitrust is meant to encourages competition of all kinds and intellectual property law should offer inventors and artists the correct incentives to develop new ideas and technologies, but the harsh reality is that antitrust and IP laws have wandered off this course.
In Creation without Restraint: Promoting Liberty and Rivalry in Innovation, Christina Bohannan and Herbert Hovenkamp analyze the current state of competition (antitrust) and intellectual property laws, and propose realistic reforms that will encourage innovation. As with antitrust and a reform process that aligned injury requirements in lawsuits with the incentive to compete, this book proposes similar reforms for patent and copyright law, and considers both the uses and limitations of antitrust as a vehicle for intellectual property law reform. This book considers how antitrust and IP law should engage practices that restrain rather than promote innovation, and covers the troubled topic of IP "misuse," which the authors suggest needs a broader reach but narrower remedies.
Bohannan and Hovenkamp also evaluate the uses and limits of antitrust to address a variety of practices in innovation intensive markets, including interconnection in networks, duties to deal, and internet neutrality. The book constructs a framework and rules for governing the "innovation commons," or the vast area that involves collaborative innovation. Finally, it considers ways to further competition in the licensing and distribution of IP rights, and offers several proposals for specific reforms, most of which can be instituted by the courts without the need for new legislation.

The book examines the correlation between Intellectual Property Law - notably copyright - on the one hand and social and economic development on the other. The main focus of the initial overview is on historical, legal, economic and cultural aspects. Building on that, the work subsequently investigates how intellectual property systems have to be designed in order to foster social and economic growth in developing countries and puts forward theoretical and practical solutions that should be considered and implemented by policy makers, legal experts and the Word Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Highly regarded, and cited in a number of judgments, Thomas on Powers is concerned with the general principles and doctrines governing or affecting the creation, exercise, and operation of powers in private law, and provides a discursive, intellectual analysis of the principles underlying the problems commonly encountered by practitioners. The first edition of Thomas on Powers was published in 1998 as part of Sweet & Maxwell's Property and Conveyancing Library. This new edition both updates the original work and expands the scope of the book significantly to include coverage of offshore trusts and current trusts issues such as fiduciary powers, protectors, and "shams". Thomas on Powers provides extensive coverage of recent statutes dealing with trustee delegation; developments to the law relating to pension schemes; and cases relating to the rule in Hastings-Bass, which has had a series of contentious recent decisions. This edition includes expanded discussion of case law from Commonwealth countries and focuses more on the numerous judgments from offshore jurisdictions, some of which raise novel questions and issues. The book also includes an increased emphasis on the specific legislation of offshore trusts, where practical problems centred around the creation and exercise of trustee powers have become very important. This edition covers the problematic interaction of powers of revocation and sham trusts; the scope and effects of powers of amendment; the powers and role of protectors of offshore trusts; and the powers of directors of companies; and the relationship between fiduciary powers in private law and powers exercised by public bodies.

The special issue of the "Comparative Law Yearbook of international Business deals with the very topical subject of e-commerce. This is an area that has seen an explosion of interest in recent years but, since the increase in the use of the Internet as a vehicle for conducting business transactions has been so rapid, the law has again fallen behind, particularly in the areas of regulation and jurisdiction. The situation is changing, however, with the introduction of both national and international legislation dealing with issues and relating to, "inter alia, data protection, privacy, electronic signatures, consumer protection and morality. The authors in this volume provide commetaries on the most recent developments in various jurisdictions, including the approach of the European Union to the problems raised by e-commerce. They discuss the difficulties in relation to jurisdiction arising from the global nature of Internet and the possibilities for dispute resolution between multi national parties to an electronic transaction. The topic is obviously one that will require much attention in the coming years and one which will need strict regulation if electronic commerce is destined to become the trading medium of the future.

This book provides an economic account of why trusts exist and how trust law should be shaped. The trust is a key legal institution in the common law world but it has been neglected by the law and economics community until recently. Borrowing theories and doctrines from corporate law and economics, scholars have variously analyzed and described the trust as a tripartite contract, a nexus of contracts, and even a legal entity. These obligational approaches overlook the unique features of trusts for which corporate legal theories have no explanation. Most importantly, they fail to account for the nature of the beneficiary's interest in the trust property.
This book presents an original analysis of the common law of trusts, arguing that trust law is about the trust property and the principal parties' relationships with it. At the same time it questions recent trends in trust law, especially those in offshore jurisdictions. Exotic developments such as non-charitable purpose trusts, settlor-retention of wide powers, and generous trustee exemption clauses have become the new normal and, coincidentally, draw analytical support from obligational accounts. It develops an analysis of trusts from a proprietary perspective, and applies the property-based approach to the economic analysis of trusts - explaining the economic benefits of trusts as an extension of the law of property. It also demonstrates how, once trusts are properly understood as property, it becomes obvious why these novel developments can only be for the worse, and should be reversed.

The economic torts for too long have been under-theorized and under-explored by academics and the judiciary alike. In recent years claimants have exploited the resulting chaos by attempting to use the economic torts in ever more exotic ways. This second edition of An Analysis of Econmic Torts, as before, attempts to provide practical legal research to both explore the ingredients of all these torts - both the general economic torts (inducing breach of contract, the unlawful means tort, intimidation, the conspiracy torts) and the misrepresentation economic torts (deceit, malicious falsehood and passing off) - and their rationales. And, as before, an optimum framework for these torts is suggested.
However that framework has to take on board the apparent tension within the House of Lords as revealed in the recent decisions in OBG v Allan and Total Network v Revenue. Over 100 years ago the House of Lords in the seminal decision of Allen v Flood in theory set the agenda for the modern development of the economic torts. The majority in that case adopted an abstentionist approach to liability for intentionally inflicted economic harm, so that even where intentional and unjustified economic harm was inflicted, liability would not necessarily follow. However, this clear framework for the torts was obscured by subsequent case law, leaving the economic torts in a hopeless muddle by the start of the twenty-first century. A chance to finally sort out this mess was presented to the House of Lords in 2007 in the shape of three conjoined appeals, reported under the name OBG v Allan. The thrust of the judgments was that a framework for the economic torts was to be established and dicta and decisions that caused problems and incoherence were to be named and shamed. Re-affirming the abstentionist philosophy of Allen v Flood Lord Hoffmann and Nicholls and Baroness Hale in part relied upon the first edition of An Analysis of the Economic Torts, Lord Hoffmann noting ..". if what I have said does anything to clarify what has been described as an extremely obscure branch of the law, much is owing to Hazel Carty's book An Analysis of the Economic Torts ." However, within 10 months of the OBG decision, a differently constituted HL in Total Network SL v Revenue & Customs Commissioners undermined this nascent coherence and did so by focusing on the conspiracy torts (previously dismissed by some commentators as anomalous or superfluous). Distinguishing OBG (which did not as such analyse the conspiracy torts) the House of Lords in Total Network may have shifted the general economic torts from the abstentionist to the interventionist track of development.
Thus it is suggested that conflicting agendas for general economic liability can be discerned in the OBG and Total Network judgments. These agendas are debated (against the background of the growing academic debate) and a coherent approach suggested. As for the misrepresentation torts their potential for development is also discussed and the peril of allowing them to transform into unfair trading or misappropriation torts is explained. As a result, the second edition involves a substantial re-write of the first edition. However, the thesis of the author remains that a coherent framework for these torts can best be constructed based on a narrow remit for the common law.