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

This book offers a guide to intellectual property law in the People's Republic of China. It simplifies the complex and rather atypical judicial system and uses practical cases to demonstrate how Chinese IP law really works. The IP system is evolving rapidly in China, with the adoption of numerous new laws and regulations, more sophisticated and detailed than their predecessors. As such the book provides an up-to-date overview of the field, including legal protection and tax assessment practices in China, focusing especially on matters regarding trademark, patent and copyright law and its protection. It also covers Chinese IP in the international context, discussing all the relevant international organizations and treaties. Furthermore, by presenting the right mix of practice and theory, and examining the best-known IP infringement cases in China, it allows readers to gain an understanding of potential IP infringement risks and ways to protect their own legal rights and interests. In addition, it provides insights into the important area of valorization and fiscal management of IP in China. Based on written law and regulations as well as the authors' expertise, it is a valuable resource for foreign lawyers and foreign companies alike.

In The Right to Parody: Comparative Analysis of Free and Fair Speech, Amy Lai examines the right to parody as a natural right in free speech and copyright, proposes a legal definition of parody that respects the interests of rights holders and accommodates the public's right to free expression, and describes mechanisms to ensure that parody will best serve this purpose. Combining philosophical inquiry with robust legal analysis, the book draws upon examples from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Hong Kong. While it caters to scholars in intellectual property and constitutional law, as well as free speech advocates, it is written in a non-specialist language designed to appeal to any reader interested in how the boom in online parodies and memes relates to free speech and copyright.

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

Landmark Cases in Land Law is the sixth volume in the Landmark Cases series of collected essays on leading cases (previous volumes in the series having covered Restitution, Contract, Tort, Equity and Family Law). The eleven cases in this volume cover the period 1834 to 2011, although, interestingly, no fewer than six of the cases were decided or reported in the 1980s. The names of the selected cases will be familiar to property lawyers. However, individually, the essays provide a reappraisal of the cases from a wide range of perspectives - focusing on their historical, social or theoretical context, highlighting previously neglected aspects and even questioning their perceived importance. Collectively, the essays explore several common themes that pervade the law of property - the numerus clausus principle, the conclusiveness of registration, the desirability of certainty in the law and the central question of the enforceability of interests through changes in ownership of land. This volume provides a collection of essays that will be of interest to academics, students and practitioners.

What is 'intellectual property'? This book examines the way in which this important area of law is constructed by the legal system. It argues that intellectual property is a body of rules, created by the legal system, that regulate the documented forms of abstract objects, which are also defined into existence by the legal system. Intellectual property law thus constructs its own objects of regulation and it does so through the application of a collection of core concepts. By analyzing the metaphysical structure of intellectual property law and the concepts the legal system uses to construct 'intellectual property', the book sheds new light on the nature of this fascinating area of law. It explains anomalies between social and intellectual property uses of concepts such as authorship - here dubbed 'creatorship' - and originality and it helps to explain the role of intellectual property from a structural (rather than the traditional normative) perspective.

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

Our modern insistence on democratic social values has engendered an intense debate over the intersection of fundamental rights and contract law. In particular, case law in several European national jurisdictions has exerted significant pressure on traditional contract law instruments to conform more transparently with the fundamental rights enshrined in the EC Charter. This pressure is clearly evident in a number of societal areas subject to contract law, among them employment, housing, and privacy. It can even be argued, as this author does, that fundamental rights intermediate between politics and law.Taking its cue from many initiatives toward the development of a more coherent, even harmonised, European contract law, this book is the first major study to examine the following essential questions with detailed reference to actual judicial developments: To what extent do fundamental rights affect contract law? In which types of cases can fundamental rights be applied? What does the explicit consideration of fundamental rights add to contract law adjudication? The author approaches the analysis along two different avenues: first, a comparative overview of developments in case law, and second, a more general theoretical view on the interaction between fundamental rights and rules of contract law which is tested against examples from various legal systems. The focus throughout is on developments in case law, because the impact of fundamental rights in contract law has been felt on the level of dispute resolution rather than on the level of legislation.Germany and the Netherlands are chosen because their judiciaries have been notable for their early and continuing attention to the theme, and England and Italy for perspectives on developments under common law and civil law systems respectively. For its reframing of old questions and its insightful delimitations of new ones, this book offers a fresh and deeply informed new perspective on this important area of developing law. The discussion, moreover, has received an additional impulse from the debate leading up to the recent agreement on a Reform Treaty regarding the institutional settlement of the Union, which will give a legally binding status to the Nice Charter. For these reasons and others, the book will be of great value to all interested parties in government, business, and legal practice.

Patent offices around the world have granted millions of patents to multinational companies. Patent offices are rarely studied and yet they are crucial agents in the global knowledge economy. Based on a study of forty-five rich and poor countries that takes in the world's largest and smallest offices, Peter Drahos argues that patent offices have become part of a globally integrated private governance network, which serves the interests of multinational companies, and that the Trilateral Offices of Europe, the USA and Japan make developing country patent offices part of the network through the strategic fostering of technocratic trust. By analysing the obligations of patent offices under the patent social contract and drawing on a theory of nodal governance, the author proposes innovative approaches to patent office administration that would allow developed and developing countries to recapture the public spirit of the patent social contract.

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

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

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

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

This book considers the case for modernising partnership rights in EC family reunification law. Existing Community law traditionally guarantees immigration rights only to spouses and yet there is a growing diversity of national laws on same-sex marriage, registered partnerships and recognition of cohabitation. The Community institutions which have recently framed new legislation seem to view this as a question that can be settled by political agreement with little or no outside constraint. The book challenges this assumption. The book outlines recent developments in national legal systems and traces the development of the recent Community legislation. Then, drawing on basic ECHR principles, the place of the ECHR in Community law, and on basic Community law principles of free movement and discrimination the book argues that the right of a migrant EU Citizen to family reunification for a cohabiting partner is presumptively protected and therefore justification for refusing to admit such partners must be provided. It also considers the possible justifications for marriage-partners only immigration policies and concludes that although possible, such justifications are far from certain to succeed. The discussion also tackles the question of whether judicial activism is appropriate or whether there should be judicial deference to the legislative process recently completed. The book concludes with a wider discussion of the proper response of Community law to the increasing diversity of Member States family laws and policies beyond the field of immigration rights. The book will be of value not only to immigration lawyers, but also to those interested in partnership rights generally, as well as to a wider audience of EU lawyers, primarily academics but also graduate students and practitioners.

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

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

Based on the 2005 Oxford Clarendon Lectures in Law, this book deals with the remarkable change in society's attitude to homosexuality over the last half century. Until 1967 homosexual acts were punished by the criminal law and as recently as 1988 Parliament forbade teachers from suggesting that homosexuality was an acceptable family relationship. In 2005 Parliament passed the Civil Partnership Act, which creates a framework in which same-sex couples can have their relationship legally recognised in much the same way as marriage. This book looks at the essentials of the civil partnerships contruct, and asks whether it is really creating an institution of 'gay marriage'? If not, the next question to ask is whether civil partnership can satisfy the demands for equality increasingly being made by the gay community? In the United States, the courts have taken an active and progressive stance, holding that to deny marriage to same sex couples and leave them with mere partnership is to create a 'separate but equal' situation historically associated with the racial discrimination now universally recognised as unconstitutional and morally unjustifiable. However, the political climate has risen to a fever pitch with the current administration's push for constitutional amendment to ban outright gay marriage. In the UK the courts have been less activist, but the potential creation of a Supreme Court raises important questions about the boundaries between the roles of judiciary, the legislature, and government; and whether the judiciary should play a more constitutionally active role than has thus far been traditional?

'The Handbook brings together a unique collection of world renowned experts providing detailed discussion in every chapter. The brilliance of this collective work is found in its broad two dimensional focus - beyond patents to all key IP assets on the one hand, and country specific discussion for key regions around the world on the other. . . Whether read cover-to-cover as a compilation of current best practice or used as a true reference guide, the Research Handbook on Intellectual Property Licensing is a must have for anyone seeking to capture value from intangible assets.' - From the foreword by James E. MalackowskiThe Research Handbook on Intellectual Property Licensing explores the complexities of intellectual property licensing law from a comparative perspective through the opinions of leading experts. This major research tool analyses the features of specific types of licensing agreements and also addresses other practical issues which apply across different types of licensing transactions, such as the treatment of licensing in bankruptcy and the use of arbitration for solving licensing disputes. The Handbook ultimately provides a scholarly contribution to the development of global intellectual property licensing policies. Including transversal and comparative analysis, this Handbook will appeal to intellectual property licensing practitioners, lawyers and intellectual property and contract law academics. Contributors: M. Anderson, P. Beyer, L. Brennan, P. de Miguel Asensio, J. de Werra, F. Dessemontet, J. Dodd, J.C. Ginsburg, H. Goddar, R.W. Gomulkiewicz, R.A. Hillman, J. Hull, N. Krishnamurthy, R.T. Nimmer, M.A. O'Rourke, M. Reutter, A. Strowel, S. Teramoto, B. Vanbrabant, N. Wilkof, H. Xue

This collection is the multifaceted result of an effort to learn from those who have been educated in an American law school and who then returned to their home countries to apply the lessons of that experience in nations experiencing social, economic, governmental, and legal transition. Written by an international group of scholars and practitioners, this work provides a unique insight into the ways in which legal education impacts the legal system in the recipient's home country, addressing such topics as efforts to influence the current style of legal education in a country and the resistance faced from entrenched senior faculty and the use of U.S. legal education methods in government and private legal practice. This book will be of significant interest not only to legal educators in the United States and internationally, and to administrators of legal education policy and reform, but also to scholars seeking a more in-depth understanding of the connections between legal education and socio-political change.

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