This collection is an inspiration and a delight for those advocates fighting for access to knowledge in the 21st century. The work highlights a number of 21st century challenges - including the obstacles of restrictive licensing; the barriers and obstacles of intellectual property; and the threats posed by international trade agreements. This collection provides a toolbox of policy solutions to deal with such hazards. The work highlights how information and knowledge can be unlocked through open access licensing, progressive intellectual property law reform, and fair trade.' - Matthew Rimmer, Australian Research Council, ANU College of Law and the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture'In a knowledge economy, access to information and knowledge takes on an ever-increasing role. But certain knowledge outputs are protected by exclusive intellectual property rights, which in one way or another restrict access to some information. It is therefore timely to examine these access issues in greater detail. The fact that this volume offers such a detailed analysis is its greatest strength. The in-depth analysis of all these aspects makes this a truly fascinating book!' - Paul Torremans, University of Nottingham, UK 'This is an important book that brings together leading scholars from Europe and the United States to explore the access challenge in intellectual property law. It reframes the debate by focusing on the critical role of timely access to information in innovation-based economies. Well worth the read.' - Michael W. Carroll, American University Washington College of Law, US Massive quantities of information are required to fuel the innovation process in a knowledge-based economy; a requirement that is in tension with intellectual property (IP) laws. Against this backdrop, leading thinkers in the IP arena explore the 'access challenge' of the 21st century, framed as the tension between the interest in the free flow of information and the fragmentation of knowledge resulting from strong IP laws. In some areas this tension seems to resolve in a shift of IP laws in the direction of greater openness, whether due to new business models, improved legal tools or access-friendly interpretations of existing laws. The book's chapters explore the challenges encountered by this 'opening' process from various perspectives, including: - open access to public sector and scientific research data - enhanced use of licensing - reshaping the contours of individual IP laws - inclusion of new stakeholders in the IP debate - challenges to the information flow in the international arena. In identifying some of the core IP-related challenges to the process of adapting to the knowledge needs of the new economy, this book will provide an enlightening read for academics, policymakers and lawyers concerned with IP laws and the flow of knowledge. Contributors: J. Axhamn, D. Beldiman, D.L. Burk, E. Ellyne, C. Geiger, L. Guibault, R. Kampf, M. Marzetti, M. Ricolfi, I. Schneider, M. Senftleben, A. Stazi, P. Yu

This major new contribution to the literature on charity law is the result of collaboration between an expert academic and a leading practitioner in the field. The combination of their different skills and experience produces an in-depth analysis of the law that is informed both by detailed scholarship and an understanding of how charity law really operates in practice today. It incorporates analysis of the likely effects of the Human Rights Act 1998 and of the important changes made by The Finance Act 2000 and The Trustee Act 2000.

1. This accessible volume and comprehensive subject guide comprises key readings on law and social justice, with a focus on dispossessions, marginalities and rights. 2. A topical volume that brings together expert analyses and emerging research on contemporary themes. 3. It will be of interest to departments of law, socio-legal studies, legal history, South Asian studies, human rights, jurisprudence and constitutional studies, gender studies, history, politics, conflict and peace studies, sociology and social anthropology. It will also appeal to legal historians and practitioner of law, and those in public administration, development studies, environment studies, migration studies, cultural studies, labour studies and economics.

In this timely book, Walter E. Block uses classical liberal theory to defend private property rights. Looking at how free enterprise, capitalism and libertarianism are cornerstones of economically prosperous civilizations, Block highlights why private property rights are crucial. Discussing philosophy, libertarian property rights theory, reparations and other property rights issues, this volume is of interest to academics, students, journalists and all those interested in this integral aspect of political economic philosophy.

Recent years have seen a globalization of property rights as the Western conception of property over land has extended across the world. As formerly community-owned land and natural resources are privatized and titling schemes proliferate, Property Rights from Below questions the trend toward treating land as a commodity and explores alternatives to the Western model. As we enter an era of resource scarcity and as competition for land and associated natural resources increases, purchasing power cannot become the sole criterion for land allocation; and the law of supply and demand in increasingly financialized markets cannot become the sole metric through which the value of land is determined. Using a range of examples from around the world, Property Rights from Below demonstrates that alternatives to this model often emerge from social innovations supported by local communities and that there is an urgent need for a broader political imagination when it comes to land governance. This innovative cross-disciplinary perspective on the pressing problems surrounding global property rights will be of interest to academics, students and professionals with an interest in property law, development economics and land governance.

Praise for "Patent Searching: Tools & Techniques"

"Hunt delivers a comprehensive yet readable treatise on patent searching. Laying out methods and tools to implement a systematic search process, Patent Searching elucidates the what, why, when, and how--a desirable contribution to those involved in this endeavor."
--Mark Hutcherson, Editor, "Patent Information Users Group Newsletter"

"Patent Searching: Tools & Techniques" provides an essential training and reference tool for patent attorneys, patent agents, and their support staff. David Hunt and his team of patent experts detail the methods used in the art of professional patent searching, the current tools to accomplish that task, and approaches for reporting that information. The wide range of search types they outline will yield invaluable data for any applicant who wants to increase their chances of earning a profitable return on a corporation's substantial investment. Along with search tools, this practical book covers a mixture of patent law, patent search theory, and practice, offering a global approach to patents that will be useful to attorneys and agents not just in the United States, but all around the world.

Code Wars recounts the legal and technological history of the first decade of the P2P file sharing era, focusing on the innovative and anarchic ways in which P2P technologies evolved in response to decisions reached by courts with regard to their predecessors. With reference to US, UK, Canadian and Australian secondary liability regimes, this insightful book develops a compelling new theory to explain why a decade of ostensibly successful litigation failed to reduce the number, variety or availability of P2P file sharing applications - and highlights ways the law might need to change if it is to have any meaningful effect in the future. A genuine interdisciplinary study, spanning both the law and information technology fields, this book will appeal to intellectual property and technology academics and researchers internationally. Historians and sociologists studying this fascinating period, as well as undergraduate and graduate students who are working on research projects in related fields, will also find this book a stimulating read. Contents: Foreword by Jane C. Ginsburg 1. Introduction 2. Applying the Pre-P2P Law to Napster 3. Targeted Attacks on the US Secondary Liability Law 4. The Targeted Response 5. Post-Grokster Fallout 6. Goldilocks and the Three Laws: Why Rights Holders Would Never Have Sued a P2P Provider under UK or Canadian Law (and why the Australian law was just right) 7. The End of the Road for Kazaa 8. Endgame: More P2P Software Providers than Ever Before 9. Can the Secondary Liability Law Respond to Code's Revolutionary Nature? Bibliography Index

Property and Practical Reason makes a moral argument for common law property institutions and norms, and challenges the prevailing dichotomy between individual rights and state interests and its assumption that individual preferences and the good of communities must be in conflict. One can understand competing intuitions about private property rights by considering how private property enables owners and their collaborators to exercise practical reason consistent with the requirements of reason, and thereby to become practically reasonable agents of deliberation and choice who promote various aspects of the common good. The plural and mediated domains of property ownership, though imperfect, have moral benefits for all members of the community. They enable communities and institutions of private ordering to pursue plural and incommensurable good ends while specifying the boundaries of property rights consistent with basic moral requirements.

The degree to which the traditional concept of property can be adjusted in order to accommodate basic constitutional concepts such as freedom and social duty, is analysed by the author. The focus is placed on recent reforms in the land law of Germany and South Africa. Remarkable similarities in the history, structure and interpretation of German and South African property law and constitutional law are indicated and a link between private law, constitutional law, land reform and legal comparison is established. This is of particular significance for the implementation of the constitutional objectives of land reform by the South African judiciary and legislature. It furthermore provides an overview of the intricate system of constitutional property protection that has been developed in German law.

Class actions in privacy law are rapidly growing as a legal vehicle for citizens around the world to hold corporations liable for privacy violations. Current and future developments in these class actions stand to shift the corporate liability landscape for companies that interact with people's personal information. Privacy class actions are at the intersection of civil litigation, privacy law, and data protection. Developments in privacy class actions raise complex issues of substantive law as well as challenges to the established procedures governing class action litigation. Their outcomes are integral to the evolution of privacy law and data protection law across jurisdictions. This book brings together established scholars in privacy law, data protection law, and collective litigation to offer a detailed perspective on the present and future of collective litigation for privacy claims. Taking a comparative approach, this book incorporates considerations from consumer protection law, procedural law, cross-border litigation, tort law, and data protection law, which are key to understanding the development of privacy class actions. In doing so, it offers an analysis of the novel challenges they pose for courts, regulatory agencies, scholars, and litigators, together with their potential solutions.

European memory institutions are repositories of a wealth of rare documents that record public domain content. These documents are often stored in 'dark-archives' to which members of the public are granted limited access, resulting in the public domain content recorded therein being relegated to a form of 'forgotten-knowledge'. Digitisation offers a means by which such public domain content can be made speedily and easily accessible to users around the world. For this reason, it has been hailed as the harbinger of a new 'digital renaissance'. This book examines the topical issue of the need to preserve exclusivity over digitised versions of rare documents recording public domain content. Based on data gathered through an empirical survey of digitisation projects undertaken by fourteen memory institutions in five European Union Member States, it argues for the introduction of exclusive rights in digitised versions of rare documents recording public domain textual content as a means of incentivising private-sector investment in the digitisation process. It concludes by presenting a detailed proposal for a European Union Regulation that would grant memory institutions a limited-term related right in digitised versions of rare documents held in their collections subject to stringent exceptions and limitations that are designed to safeguard user interests.

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

Offers a new and international perspective on the legal aspects of contracting infrastructure projects. Includes examples from case law from a number of common law jurisdictions, as well as civil law codes, plus chapters on planning and programming for construction contracts as well as tunnelling and mining contracts. Features a collection of appendices for reference including, among others, UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, matters for consideration in awarding contracts and risk factors in construction of infrastructure.

Drawing on interdisciplinary research methods from musicological and legal scholarship, this book maps the historical terrain of forensic musicology. It examines the contributions of musical expert witnesses, their analytical techniques, and the issues they encounter assisting courts in clarifying the blurred lines of music copyright.

This book focuses on the fraught relationship between cultural heritage and intellectual property, in their common concern with the creative arts. The competing discourses in international legal instruments around copyright and intangible cultural heritage are the most obvious manifestation of this troubled encounter. However, this characterization of the relationship between intellectual and cultural property is in itself problematic, not least because it reflects a fossilized concept of heritage, divided between things that are fixed and moveable, tangible and intangible. Instead the book maintains that heritage should be conceived as part of a dynamic and mutually constitutive process of community formation. It argues, therefore, for a critically important distinction between the fundamentally different concepts of not only intellectual and cultural heritage/property, but also of the market and the community. For while copyright as a private property right locates all relationships in the context of the market, the context of cultural heritage relationships is the community, of which the market forms a part but does not - and, indeed, should not - control the whole. The concept of cultural property/heritage, then, is a way of resisting the reduction of everything to its value in the market, a way of resisting the commodification, and creeping propertization, of everything. And, as such, the book proposes an alternative basis for expressing and controlling value according to the norms and identity of a community, and not according to the market value of private property rights. An important and original intervention, this book will appeal to academics and practitioners in both intellectual property and the arts, as well as legal and cultural theorists with interests in this area.

The Law Commission (of England and Wales) and the Scottish Law Commission were both established in 1965 to promote the reform of the laws of their respective jurisdictions. Since then, they have each produced hundreds of reports across many areas of law. They are independent of government yet rely on governmental funding and governmental approval of their proposed projects. They also rely on both government and Parliament (and, occasionally, the courts or other bodies) to implement their proposals. This book examines the tension between independence and implementation and recommends how a balance can best be struck. It proposes how the Commissions should choose their projects given that their duties outweigh their resources, and how we should assess the success, or otherwise, of their output. Countries around the world have created law reform bodies in the Commissions' image. They may wish to reflect on the GB Commissions' responses to the changes and challenges they have faced to reappraise their own law reform machinery. Equally, the GB Commissions may seek inspiration from other commissions' experiences. The world the GB Commissions inhabit now is very different from when they were established. They have evolved to remain relevant in the face of devolution, the UK's changing relationship with the European Union, increasing pressure for accountability and decreasing funding. Further changes to secure the future of independent law reform are advanced in this book.

The foundations for modern contract law were laid between 1670 and 1870. Rather than advancing a purely chronological account, this examination of the development of contract law doctrine in England during that time explores key themes in order to better understand the drivers of legal change. These themes include the relationship between lawyers and merchants, the role of equity, the place of statute, and the part played by legal literature. Developments are considered in the context of the legal system of the time and through those who were involved in litigation as lawyers, judges, jurors or litigants. It concludes that the way in which contract law developed was complex. Legal change was often uneven and slow, and some of the apparent changes had deep roots in the past. Clashes between conservative and more reformist tendencies were not uncommon.

This book provides an overview of disability exceptions to copyright infringement and the international and human rights legal framework for disability rights and exceptions. The focus is on those exceptions as they apply to visual art, while the book presents a comprehensive study of copyright's disability exceptions per se and the international and human rights law framework in which they are situated. 3D printing now allows people with a visual impairment to experience 3D reproductions of paintings, drawings and photographs through touch. At the same time, the uncertain application of existing disability exceptions to these reproductions may generate concerns about legal risk, hampering sensory art projects and reducing inclusivity and equity in cultural engagement by people with a visual impairment. The work adopts an interdisciplinary approach, with contributions from diverse stakeholders, including persons with disabilities, cultural institutions and the 3D printing industry. The book sketches the scene relating to sensory art projects. Experts in intellectual property, human rights, disability and art law then critically analyse the current legal landscape relating to disability access to works of visual art at both international and regional levels, as well as across a broad representative sample of national jurisdictions, and identify where legal reform is required. This comparative analysis of the laws aims to better inform stakeholders of the applicable legal landscape, the legal risks and opportunities associated with sensory art and the opportunities for reform and best practice guidelines, with the overarching goal of facilitating international harmonisation of the law and enhanced inclusivity.

Offering an important addition to existing critiques of governance feminism and carceral expansion based mainly on experiences from the Global North, this book critically addresses feminist law reform on violence against women, from a decolonial perspective. Challenging the consensus that penal expansion is mainly associated with the co-option of feminist campaigns to counteract violence against women in the context of neoliberal globalisation, this book shows that long-standing colonial narratives underlie many of today's dominant legal discourses justifying criminalisation, even in countries whose governments have called themselves "leftist" and "post-neoliberal". Mapping the history of law reform on violence against women in Ecuador, the book reveals how the conciliation between feminist campaigns and criminalisation strategies takes place through liberal legality, the language of human rights, and the discourse of constitutional guarantees, across the political spectrum. Whilst human rights make violence against women intelligible in mainstream legal terms, the book shows that the emergence of a "rights-based penality" produces a benign, formally innocuous criminal law, which can be presented as progressive, but in practice reproduces colonial and postcolonial paradigms that limit and reshape feminist demands. The book raises new questions on the complex social and political factors that impact on feminist law reform projects, as it demonstrates how colonial assumptions about gender, race, class, and the family remain embedded in liberal criminal law. This theoretically and empirically informed analysis makes an innovative contribution to feminist legal theory, post-colonial studies, and criminal law; and will be of interest to activists, scholars and policymakers working at the intersections between gender equality, law, and violence in Latin America and beyond.

This book offers a critical examination of the jurisprudence of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as an emancipatory international social contract on trade. The book suggests that the WTO is an international organization built and operating on member states' attribution of authority through consent with legislative, administrative, and adjudicative functions - three functions in one triune personality. With a solid constitutional continuity building on GATT experiences, the WTO has successfully made governments accountable to foreign individuals in various capacities either as traders of goods, providers of services, or holders of intellectual property rights within the global marketplace. With a triune personality, the WTO operates within the reign of state primacy - the force - ultimately for the benefits of individuals - the ends - in the global marketplace, and gains a soul of its own in the institutional evolution - the means - of the global trading regime. Although the tripartite dynamics between states, international institutions, and individuals in the global marketplace are unprecedentedly complex, the WTO's ends of benefiting individuals in the global marketplace has no end. Beyond the critical analysis of WTO's decision-making by consensus, the book critically examines GATT's "common intention" treaty interpretation, Antidumping's NME methodology, TRIPS' public health concerns, and IP-competition trade policy dynamics. A unified WTO jurisprudence looking at the WTO as an international social contract on trade is therefore proposed to allow a fresh look at the force, the means, and the ends of the constitutional evolution of the global trading regime.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.

.,."Perhaps the most impressive thing about Vaidhyanathan, a superb writer and speaker, is that he has made such complicated issues not only understandable but almost, well, entertaining."
--"Library Journal"

"A fascinating journey through the cultural history of copyright law. "Copyrights and Copywrongs" is remarkably readable, mercifully free of legal jargon, and entertaining. It is also thoroughly researched and includes extensive notes and references. This text belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in the ethics and development of copyright."
--"International Journal of Law and Information Technology"

"Vaidhyanathan traces the expansion of American copyright from the late nineteenth century on, giving an especially interesting account of the complexities and absurdities raised by its application to film and music."
-- "American Quarterly"

"This book makes it clear that copyright struggles are not new and will continue in the years ahead. . . . He makes that case readable, understandable, and even entertaining."
--"Portal: Libraries and the Academy"

"Remarkably readable, free of legal jargon, and entertaining . . . the author's arguments are cogent, enlightening, and important to all information professionals."
--"College & Research Libraries"

"Illuminating"
-- "Bookforum" April-June 2002

"It has taken lawyers 200-plus years to morph copyright law from the balanced compromise that our framers struck to the extraordinary system of control that it has become. In this beautifully written book, a nonlawyer has uncovered much of the damage done. "Copyrights and Copywrongs" is a rich andcompelling account of the bending of American copyright law, and a promise of the balance that we could once again make the law become."
--Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School and author of "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace"

"Siva Vaidhyanathan has done a big favor for the academic and library communities. In this book, he has spelled out in clear, understandable language what's at stake in the battles over the nation's intellectual property. The issues brought forward are critical to the future of scholarship and creativity. Librarians and academics are wise to purchase this book and add it to their amust read' lists."
--Nancy Kranich, President, American Library Association, 2000a2001

""Copyrights and Copywrongs" is an urgent information-age wake-up call to a public cocooned in belief that acopyright' is a seal and safeguard for consumers and producers of culture-ware. This book guides us into the legal labyrinth of a new world of so-called intellectual property, in which afair use' isn't fair, where rights are waived and free speech--when we can get it--costs a great deal of money. From print books to video games, "Copyrights and Copywrongs" shows free expression in a legalistic chokehold. Clearly written, meticulously argued, this book is a must."
--Cecelia Tichi, author of"Embodiment of a Nation: Human Form in American Spaces"

"Bravo! When you read this brillant, often-amusing, always-penetrating book-- and you must read it as soon as possible -- you will be persuaded that our Founding Fathers were wise and right when they made the law allowing an author's copyright to exist for a limited time only, either 14 or 28 years."--"CU Cityview"

Copyright reflects farmore than economic interests. Embedded within conflicts over royalties and infringement are cultural values--about race, class, access, ownership, free speech, and democracy--which influence how rights are determined and enforced. Questions of legitimacy--of what constitutes "intellectual property" or "fair use," and of how to locate a precise moment of cultural creation--have become enormously complicated in recent years, as advances in technology have exponentially increased the speed of cultural reproduction and dissemination.

In Copyrights and Copywrongs, Siva Vaidhyanathan tracks the history of American copyright law through the 20th century, from Mark Twain's vehement exhortations for "thick" copyright protection, to recent lawsuits regarding sampling in rap music and the "digital moment," exemplified by the rise of Napster and MP3 technology. He argues persuasively that in its current punitive, highly restrictive form, American copyright law hinders cultural production, thereby contributing to the poverty of civic culture.

In addition to choking cultural expression, recent copyright law, Vaidhyanathan argues, effectively sanctions biases against cultural traditions which differ from the Anglo-European model. In African-based cultures, borrowing from and building upon earlier cultural expressions is not considered a legal trespass, but a tribute. Rap and hip hop artists who practice such "borrowing" by sampling and mixing, however, have been sued for copyright violation and forced to pay substantial monetary damages. Similarly, the oral transmission of culture, which has a centuries-old tradition within African American culture, is complicated by current copyright laws. How, for example, can ownership of music, lyrics, or stories which have been passed down through generations be determined? Upon close examination, strict legal guidelines prove insensitive to the diverse forms of cultural expression prevalent in the United States, and reveal much about the racialized cultural values which permeate our system of laws. Ultimately, copyright is a necessary policy that should balance public and private interests but the recent rise of "intellectual property" as a concept have overthrown that balance. Copyright, Vaidhyanathan asserts, is policy, not property.

Bringing to light the republican principles behind original copyright laws as well as present-day imbalances and future possibilities for freer expression and artistic equity, this volume takes important strides towards unraveling the complex web of culture, law, race, and technology in today's global marketplace.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of established evidence-based interventions for the problems inherent in parental alienation. The book focuses on helping families and ensuring the needs of the child are met. Increasing attention has been given to the subject of parental alienation in recent years, as divorce rates have increased and more children are being brought up in the context of ongoing parental conflict, risking significant emotional harm. Chapters point to the application of numerous evidence-based interventions that are already available and detail how to identify, assess and intervene effectively with families where parental alienation has been identified. This text will be of interest to those working in the family courts, particularly expert witnesses, clinical psychologists, therapists, social workers, guardians and other legal professionals, in addition to researchers with an interest in parental alienation.

Written by a Caribbean-based academic and practitioner Written with an emphasis on contemporary law and how it has evolved this textbook is relevant to LLB students, second level law students and practitioners in the region