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

Intellectual Property Branding in the Developing World identifies success stories in the areas of intellectual property (IP) and branding for non-technological innovation in the developing world. The author examines the relationship between IP, branding and innovation to demonstrate that innovation, in general, and non-technological innovation, in particular, must go hand in hand with branding. Branding of non-technological innovations should be a good strategic tool to be used by countries in the developing world mainly in the areas where they have competitive advantages. This book will assist scholars and academics dealing with innovation, branding, and IP issues, providing context and guidance to policymakers from the developing world. It is also relevant to researchers and students in the fields of intellectual property law, commercial law, international law, management, and innovation.

The second edition of this popular textbook has been thoroughly revised, expanded and updated in order to reflect the recent extensive changes in European IP legislation. Providing an in-depth examination of the core areas of IP law, from copyright, patents and trademarks through to the protection of plant varieties and industrial design, it is perfectly pitched to guide the reader through the complexities of the European IP system. New to this edition: Coverage of recent legislative changes since the first edition, including detail on the proposed new copyright package New expanded chapters on Plant Variety Rights, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications New chapter on IPRs and Unfair Competition, including Trade Secrets Expanded chapter on patents, including coverage of the unitary patent and the UPC, by new co-author and patent expert Stefan Luginbuehl. Key features: Concise and straightforward style, gives students and non-specialist practitioners a clear understanding of the fundamentals of European intellectual property law Highlights extracts from primary sources including decisions of the CJEU and other key case law, reports, and white papers Poses questions designed to provoke critical thinking and reflection around legal problems Covers related areas adjacent to IP law, in order to help students understand the context in which IP legislation operates Gives an overview of community and European IP rights and areas that have been harmonized at a legislative level Considers international IP protection and the interrelation between European and IP law more broadly in order to promote comparative study. With its detailed and comprehensive overview on the structure and content of European IP law, this textbook has proved an essential companion to both basic and advanced courses on European intellectual property across the globe. Acclaim for the first edition: 'This clearly-written and comprehensive text, by two leading scholars of European intellectual property law, is extremely adaptable. It is a perfect platform for classroom teaching, and is also a fine resource for those researching in what is becoming an increasingly complex field.' - Graeme B. Dinwoodie, Chicago-Kent University, US

This study examines the law of intellectual property in China from imperial times to the present. It draws on history, politics, economics, sociology, and the arts, and on interviews with officials, business people, lawyers, and perpetrators and victims of 'piracy'. The author asks why the Chinese, with their early bounty of scientific and artistic creations, are only now devising legal protection for such endeavors and why such protection is more rhetoric than reality on the Chinese mainland. In the process, he sheds light on the complex relation between law and political culture in China. The book goes on to examine recent efforts in the People's Republic of China to develop intellectual property law, and uses this example to highlight the broader problems with China's program of law reform.

International developments since the mid-1990s have signalled an awareness of the importance and validity of traditional knowledge and cultural property. The adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the establishment of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore demonstrate an emerging trend towards the recognition of the rights of communities and the importance of culture in shaping international law and policy. This book examines how developments to protect collectively held knowledge transpose to circumstances which may not meet the usually understood criteria of what is considered to be an indigenous or traditional group. This includes communally derived cultural products which have emerged out of communities and subsequently formed a part of the national or popular culture. The book considers the steel pan of Trinidad and Tobago, punta rock music from Belize, Brazilian capoeira, and the cajon of Peru as key cases studies of this. By exploring the impact of past and recent international developments to protect traditional knowledge, Sharon Le Gall highlights a category of cultural signifiers which lies outside the scope of intellectual property protection, as well as the protection proposed for traditional knowledge and advocated for intangible cultural property. The book proposes a reinterpretation of Joseph Raz's interest theory of group rights in order to accommodate the rights advocated for collectively derived cultural signifiers on the basis of their value as symbols of identity. In doing so, Le Gall offers an original account of how those signifiers, which may not be described as exclusively 'traditional' or 'indigenous' and held in ways which are not 'traditional' or 'customary', may be accommodated in emerging traditional knowledge laws.

Clear, straightforward explanations and easy-to-follow examples ensure students' understanding of what is often considered a complex and difficult subject. Lively, humorous writing style and focus on real people and real situations help to bring equity and trusts to life, challenging preconceptions and engaging even the most resistant of students Focus on areas of contemporary interest and rapid recent development such as the family home; charities law and commercial uses of trusts to help students to see how the law impacts on individuals and businesses every day. Shorter, punchier and more accessible to a broader range of students than Alastair Hudson's classic textbook, this is sure to appeal to today's time-pressured law student. New edition updated to include the latest developments in case law.

Course Notes is designed to help you succeed in your law examinations and assessments. Each guide supports revision of an undergraduate and conversion GDL/CPE law degree module by demonstrating good practice in creating and maintaining ideal notes. Course Notes will support you in actively and effectively learning the material by guiding you through the demands of compiling the information you need. * Written by expert lecturers who understand your needs with examination requirements in mind * Covers key cases, legislation and principles clearly and concisely so you can recall information confidently * Contains easy to use diagrams, definition boxes and work points to help you understand difficult concepts * Provides self test opportunities throughout for you to check your understanding * Illustrates how to compile the ideal set of revision notes * Covers the essential modules of study for undergraduate llb and conversion-to-law GDL/CPE courses.

This diverse and insightful volume investigates changing patterns of knowledge management practices and intellectual property regimes across a range of different techno-scientific disciplines and cultures.The book links the practices and regimes of the past with those of contemporary and emerging forms, covering the mid-19th century to the present. The contributors are noted scholars from various disciplines including history of science and technology, intellectual property law, and innovation studies. The chapters offer original perspectives on how proprietary regimes in knowledge production processes have developed as a socio-political phenomenon of modernity, as well as providing an analysis of the way individuals, institutions and techno-sciences interact within this culture. With in-depth analysis, this book will appeal to academics and students of STS (Science, Technology and Society), history of science and technology, business history, innovation studies, law, science and technology policy as well as business studies. Historians of science and technology and business will also find much to interest them in this book. Contributors: S. Arapostathis, E. Bruton, B. Charnley, B. de Jonge, G. Dutfield, A. Fickers, P. Israel, M. Korthals, E. Kranakis, T. Lekkas, N. Louwaars, A.R. Maestrejuan, J. Mercelis, S.W. Morris, P. Munyi, S. Turchetti, H. van den Belt

This substantially revised second edition evaluates the Directive on Copyright in the Information Society and its interpretation by the European Court of Justice in the light of its implementation and application in the EU's 28 member states. Following the initial implementation of the Directive, many member states have enacted further legislation to supplement or refine their earlier implementation: this edition will take these important developments into account. Key features of the updated second edition include: Chapters authored by experts from all 28 member states, providing detailed analysis on how the Directive has been implemented and applied on a national level Contextual chapters on the relevant WIPO treaties and the Directive that highlight areas of discretion left to national legislators Updated review of the European Court's case law that serves to interpret the Directive Expanded foreword by Dr Joerg Reinbothe, the architect of the Directive. Combining practical information on implementation of the Directive with the latest academic research this book will be of great value to policy makers, practising lawyers and researchers alike. The book will be of particular interest for the further development of copyright in the Digital Single Market since it captures the status quo of copyright protection in the member states at a decisive moment in the legislative debate. Contributors include: P. Adamsson, P. Akester, T. Aplin, S.L. Azzopardi, J. Bordans, A. Demetriades, W.Z. Dziomdziora, S. Ercolani, N. Epaminonda, M. Ficsor, P.M. Grimaud, K. Harenko, E. Ivanauskiene, J. Jost, G. Kadlecova, P. Kamina, V. Krizova, M.G. Leon, B. Lindner, K. Manhaeve, B. Michaux, V. Naslund, S. Olsovsky, F. Philapitsch, A. Quaedvlieg, L. Scales, M. Schaefer, T. Schiltz, P. Schonning, T. Shapiro, V. Sokolov, M. Trampuz, E. Vagena, M. Valousek, I. Veiksa, M. Voican, R.M. Vuckovic

This book is about fiduciary law's influence on the financial economy's environmental performance, focusing on how the law affects responsible investing and considering possible legal reforms to shift financial markets closer towards sustainability. Fiduciary law governs how trustees, fund managers or other custodians administer the investment portfolios owned by beneficiaries. Written for a diverse audience, not just legal scholars, the book examines in a multi-jurisdictional context an array of philosophical, institutional and economic issues that have shaped the movement for responsible investing and its legal framework. Fiduciary law has acquired greater influence in the financial economy in tandem with the extraordinary recent growth of institutional funds such as pension plans and insurance company portfolios. While the fiduciary prejudice against responsible investing has somewhat waned in recent years, owing mainly to reinterpretations of fiduciary and trust law, significant barriers remain. This book advances the notion of 'nature's trust' to metaphorically signal how fiduciary responsibility should accommodate society's dependence on long-term environmental well-being. Financial institutions, managing vast investment portfolios on behalf of millions of beneficiaries, should manage those investments with regard to the broader social interest in sustaining ecological health. Even for their own financial self-interest, investors over the long-term should benefit from maintaining nature's capital. We should expect everyone to act in nature's trust, from individual funds to market regulators. The ancient public trust doctrine could be refashioned for stimulating this change, and sovereign wealth funds should take the lead in pioneering best practices for environmentally responsible investing.

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.

Africa is playing an increasingly more significant role in the domain of international intellectual property law, and this book underlines the contributions made by African countries as a group to the development of the current international IP system. It examines in detail their breakthrough proposals and initiatives at the WTO, WIPO and WHO with regard to IP and public health; IP and traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources; IP and biodiversity; and exceptions and limitations to copyright. Using Botswana, Burundi, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia as examples, it examines the systems under which these IP subject matters are protected. From a regional perspective, the book also analyses some initiatives taken by ARIPO, OAPI and the African Union to protect traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, especially in relation to protection of the rights of local farming communities and breeders, regulation of access to biological resources, genetically modified organisms and the proposed establishment of the new Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization (PAIPO). Demonstrating how Africa is now an active player on the international IP scene, this book will be invaluable to those interested in intellectual property law, business and commercial law, and African and international law.

The law of tracing is a complex subject which has struggled to find a home in works on property, equity, commercial law and restitution. Broadly speaking, it addresses the question of when rights held in an asset can be asserted in another asset despite changes in form or attempts to 'launder' the initial asset. Properly understood this area of study is composed of several distinct topics. This book explores all the areas covered by the law of tracing in a degree of detail not previously reached in more general works.

In recent years we have witnessed a rising tension between the open architecture of the Internet and legal restrictions for online activities. The impact of digital recording technologies and distributed file sharing systems has forever changed the expectations of everyday users with regard to digital information. At the same time, however, U.S. Copyright Law has shown a decided trend toward more restrictions over what we are able to do with digital materials. As a result, a gap has emerged between the reality of copyright law and the social reality of our everyday activities. Through an analysis of the competing rhetorical frameworks about copyright regulation in a digital age, this book shows how the stories told by active parties in the debate shape our cultural understanding of what is and is not acceptable in the use of copyrighted works on digital networks. Reyman posits recent legal developments as sites of conflict between competing value systems in our culture: one of control, relying heavily on comparisons of intellectual property to physical property, and emphasizing ownership, theft, and piracy, and the other a value of community, implementing new concepts such as that of an intellectual "commons," and emphasizing exchange, collaboration, and responsibility to a public good. Reyman argues that the rhetoric of the digital copyright debate, namely the rhetorical positioning of technology as destructive to creative and intellectual production, has profound implications for the future of digital culture.

This book examines the relationship between the legal extension of copyright duration as an enduring means of copyright protection and the growth of the UK book publishing industry as a typical creative industry reliant on copyright. The book draws on Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction to analyse the implications of copyright law and policy on the book industry and illustrate the dynamic interaction between copyright expansion and the growth of the creative industries. The book reviews the historical development of UK copyright expansion and also considers copyright in the digital age. It explores the legal and economic concerns about copyright protection in general, and the expansion of copyright duration in particular. Using an innovative empirical method, it explores whether the expansion of the duration of copyright promotes or precludes the growth of book publishing industry. It goes on to suggest changes to copyright policy which would have an impact on the economics of innovation in the creative industries. This book will be of particular interst to scholars and students of Intellectual Property Law.

Considering the steady increase in intellectual property rights in the last century, does it make sense to speak of 'user's rights' and can limitations on intellectual liberty be justified from a rights-based perspective? This book philosophically defends the importance of the public domain and user's rights through the use of natural-rights thought. Utilizing primarily the work of John Locke, it contends that considerations of natural justice and human freedom impose powerful constraints on the proper reach and substance of intellectual property rights, especially copyright. It investigates both the internal and external natural-rights constraints on intellectual property, and argues in particular for the importance to human freedom of the right to intellectual liberty - the right to inform one's actions by learning about the world. It concludes that respect for fundamental freedom-based interests require a balanced approach to the scope, strength and duration of intellectual property rights.

This book explores the economic analysis of intellectual property law, with a special emphasis on the Law and Economics of informational goods in light of the past decade s technological revolution. In recent years there has been massive growth in the Law and Economics literature focusing on intellectual property, on both normative and positive levels of analysis. The economic approach to intellectual property is often described as a monolithic, coherent approach that may differ only as it is applied to a particular case. Yet the growing literature of Law and Economics in intellectual property does not speak in one voice. The economic discourse used in legal scholarship and in policy-making encompasses several strands, each reflecting a fundamentally different approach to the economics of informational works, and each grounded in a different ideology or methodological paradigm.

This book delineates the various economic approaches taken and analyzes their tenets. It maps the fundamental concepts and the theoretical foundation of current economic analysis of intellectual property law, in order to fully understand the ramifications of using economic analysis of law in policy making. In so doing, one begins to appreciate the limitations of the current frameworks in confronting the challenges of the information revolution. The book addresses the fundamental adjustments in the methodology and underlying assumptions that must be employed in order for the economic approach to remain a useful analytical framework for addressing IPR in the information age.

Contemporary copyright was born in a heroic era of human history when technologies facilitated idea dissemination through the book trade reaching out mass readership. This book provides insights on the copyright evolution and how proprietary individual expression's copyright protection forms an integral part of our knowing in being, driven by the advances of technology through the proliferating trading frameworks. The book captures what is central in the process of copyright evolution which is an "onto-epistemological offset". It goes on to explain that copyright's protection of knowing in originality's delineation of expression and fair use/dealing's legitimization of unauthorized use and being are not isolatable, but rather mutually implicated. While the classic strict determinism has been subject to an onto-epistemological challenge, the book looks at the proliferation of global trade and advent of information technology and how they show us the beauty and possibility of intra-dependence between copyright authorship, entrepreneurship, and readership, which calls for a fresh copyright onto-epistemology. Building on its onto-epistemological critiques on the stakeholder, force, and mechanism of copyright evolution, the book helps readers understand why, not only copyright, but also law in general, and justice too, need to be onto-epistemologically balanced, as this is categorically imperative for being, the fundamental law of nature.

Competing Sovereignties provides a critique of the concept of sovereignty in modernity in light of claims to determine the content of law at the international, national and local levels. In an argument that is illustrated through an analysis of debates over the control of intellectual property law in India, Richard Joyce considers how economic globalization and the claims of indigenous communities do not just challenge national sovereignty - as if national sovereignty is the only kind of sovereignty - but in fact invite us to challenge our conception of what sovereignty is . Combining theoretical research and reflection with an analysis of the legal, institutional and political context in which sovereignties 'compete', the book offers a reconception of modern sovereignty - and, with it, a new appreciation of the complex issues surrounding the relationship between international organisations, nation states and local and indigenous communities.

This state-of-the-art study argues that reforms to intellectual property (IP) should be based on the ways IP is interacting with new technologies, business models, work patterns and social mores. It identifies emerging IP reform proposals and experiments, indicating first how more rigor and independence can be built into the grant of IP rights so that genuine innovations are recognized. The original contributions illustrate how IP rights can be utilised, through open source licensing systems and private transfers, to disseminate knowledge. Reforms are recommended. The discussion takes in patents, copyright, trade secrets and relational obligations, considering the design of legislative directives, default principles, administrative practices, contractual terms and license specifications. Providing contemporary empirical studies and covering public administration, collective and open approaches, and regulation of private transactions, this comprehensive book will prove a stimulating read for academics and students of law, business and management and development studies. Government policy makers and regulators as well as IP managers and advocates will also find much to provoke thought.

This book provides the reader with a critical insight into the history and theory of copyright within contemporary legal and cultural discourse. It exposes as myth the orthodox history of the development of copyright law in eighteenth-century Britain and explores the way in which that myth became entrenched throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. To this historical analysis are added two theoretical approaches to copyright not otherwise found in mainstream contemporary texts. Rethinking Copyright introduces the reader to copyright through the prism of the public domain before turning to the question as to how best to locate copyright within the parameters of traditional property discourse. Moreover, underpinning these various historical and theoretical strands, the book explores the constitutive power of legal writing and the place of rhetoric in framing and determining contemporary copyright policy and discourse. Ronan Deazley's book will be of interest to academics and practitioners of law and intellectual property. The work should also be of interest to those working in alternate disciplines such as literary and cultural theorists and bibliographers

This book considers the issue of biodiversity in developing countries in relation to intellectual-property rights, community rights and human rights. Drawing together a number of case studies of developing countries rich in biological and genetic resources including India, South Africa and Brazil, the book examines the access to PGRs and their utilizations in the contexts of scientific and commercial oriented activities pursued both in the source and user countries. Exploring how community rights are protected in national biodiversity-related regulations and some international legal instruments, Marcelin Tonye Mahop also discusses the relationship between community rights and human rights in the context of biodiversity. The book looks at the issue of bio-piracy, asking whether this phenomenon should only be seen as a North-South clash, whereby biodiversity rich countries of the Southern Hemisphere blame developed countries and their actors as its principal perpetrators. While recognizing that developing countries' actors play a role in this bio-piracy phenomenon, the book goes on to suggest alternative measures for the legal protection of community rights at the national level with the possibility of national and international enforceability. Essential reading for students and scholars of intellectual-property rights, biodiversity regulations and human rights, this book will also be of great value to researchers and members of professional organizations working in these subject areas. National and regional negotiators in the international processes dealing with the issues covered in the book will find it a useful tool that can help them to understand various facets of these processes.

There has been much discussion in the last ten years about the need to reform the law governing company charge registration, with many bodies including the Department of Trade and Industry and Law Commissions considering the case for reform of this area in the context of a wider scheme of personal property security reform. This has culminated in the coming into force of Part 25 of the Companies Act 2006, which is concerned with company charge registration. This major book features the work of international experts on personal property security law. It focuses on the reform of UK company charge law and argues that the Companies Act 2006 did not go far enough in reforming the law. It addresses the question as to whether the UK should follow the lead of other jurisdictions that have adopted US Article 9 type personal property security schemes. As well as considering current UK law the book also addresses the changes proposed by the Law Commissions and, despite current government inaction, considers whether these reform proposals should be adopted. The book contains major international comparisons and, in particular, looks at law reform in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Europe. This comparative treatment gives the reader a full perspective on this difficult and constantly developing area of law.

In this book Konstantinos Komaitis identifies a tripartite problem - intellectual, institutional and ethical - inherent in the domain name regulation culture. Using the theory of property, Komaitis discusses domain names as sui generis 'e-property' rights and analyses the experience of the past ten years, through the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). The institutional deficit he identifies, generates a further discussion on the ethical dimensions in the regulation of domain names and prompts Komaitis to suggest the creation of an environment based on justice. The relationship between trademarks and domain names has always been contentious and the existing institutions of the UDRP and ACPA have not assisted in alleviating the tension between the two identifiers. Over the past ten years, the trademark community has been systematic in encouraging and promoting a culture that indiscriminately considers domain names as secondclass citizens, suggesting that trademark rights should have priority over the registration in the domain name space. Komaitis disputes this assertion and brings to light the injustices and the trademark-oriented nature of the UDRP and ACPA. He queries what the appropriate legal source to protect registrants when not seeking to promote trademark interests is. He also delineates a legal hypothesis on their nature as well as the steps of their institutionalisation process that we need to reverse, seeking to create a just framework for the regulation of domain names. Finally he explores how the current policies contribute to the philosophy of domain names as second-class citizens. With these questions in mind, Komaitis suggests some recommendations concerning the reconfiguration of the regulation of domain names.

This book offers an original analysis of private copying and determines its actual scope as an area of end-user freedom. The basis of this examination is Article 5(2)(b) of the Copyright Directive. Despite the fact that copying for private and non-commercial use is permitted by virtue of this article and the national laws that implemented it, there is no mandate that this privilege should not be technologically or contractually restricted. Because the legal nature of private copying is not settled, users may consider that they have a right to private copying, whereas rightholders are in position to prohibit the exercise of this right . With digital technology and the internet, this tension has become prominent: the conceptual contours of permissible private copying, namely the private and non-commercial character of the use, do not translate well, and tend to be less clear in the digital context.

With the permissible limits of private copying being contested and without clarity as to the legal nature of the private coping limitation, the scope of user freedom is being challenged. Private use, however, has always remained free in copyright law. Not only is it synonymous with user autonomy via the exhaustion doctrine, but it also finds protection under privacy considerations which come into play at the stage of copyright enforcement. The author of this book argues that the rationale for a private copying limitation remains unaltered in the digital world and maintains there is nothing to prevent national judges from interpreting the legal nature of private copying as a sacred privilege that can be enforced against possible restrictions.

"

Private Copying "will be of particular interest to academics, students and practitioners of intellectual property law.