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.

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

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

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.

This book deals with adoption laws and practices in small island developing states in the Pacific. It commences with an introductory chapter giving an overview of relevant laws and practices and pulling together the common themes and issues raised in the book. Each of the following chapters deals with adoption law and practice in a small South Pacific country. The countries in question all have plural legal systems, with systems of adoption and its closest customary law equivalent operating side by side. In most cases, there is an insufficiently developed relationship between the two systems, which has resulted in a number of problems. Additionally, international law adds another layer of complexity. Size and remoteness in the small states under discussion have a profound impact on local practices.

This book shows how governance regimes before the 1970s suppressed rural prospects of housing improvement and created conditions for middle-class capture. Using original archival sources to reveal the intricacies of local and national policy processes, weak rural housing performances are shown to owe more to national governance regimes than local under-performance. Looking `behind the scenes' at policy processes highlights neglected principles in national governance, and shows how investigating rural housing is fundamental to understanding the national scene. With original insights and a new analytical perspective, this volume offers evidence and conclusions that challenge mainstream assumptions in public policy, housing, rural studies and planning.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This textbook examines the legal and regulatory approaches to digital assets and related technology taken by United States regulators. As cryptoassets and other blockchain applications mature, and regulatory authorities work hard to keep pace, Daniel Stabile, Kimberly Prior and Andrew Hinkes invite students to consider the legal approaches, challenges and tension points inherent in regulating these new products and systems. The authors explore the attempts to apply securities laws and money transmission regulation, the growth of smart contracts, the taxation of digital assets, and the intersection of digital assets and criminal law. This innovative and unique textbook features: Commentary and analysis by three leading attorneys engaged with the regulation of digital assets and blockchain technology, offering practical, real-world acumen A comprehensive overview of the origins, key features and mechanisms of blockchain technology, as well as a broad intimation of the divisive debates that will shape the future of digital assets, to guarantee a thorough introduction to the topic for students Excerpts of authorities and other materials from key regulators, including the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trade Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service, to add insight and nuance to classroom discussions. In this, the first textbook of its kind, students of law, business, or technology will find crucial insights into the law and regulation of blockchain and a comprehensive overview of significant public debates on the topic.

Everything you need from your Contract Law textbook in one leading text. Elliott & Quinn's Contract Law, 12th edition is the leading text for law students, coming from an expert author team known for making the subject easy to understand without compromising on academic rigour. This accessible textbook provides a straightforward coverage of the fundamental legal principles of the subject. It also presents an in-depth discussion of all key cases and their principles, prompting you to practice and apply them to exam-style questions, giving you the opportunity to understand how the law operates in the real world. The book also encourages you to develop your own views on the effectiveness of the current laws and get an overview of future reform options. The latest edition also includes: A new 'The Bigger Picture' feature that highlights the legal issues behind high-profile news stories, helping you to see the real-world application of the law. New essay and problem questions, with answer guidance also available online to support your revision. Revamped end of chapter summaries, for easy revision. Free access to a companion website with additional resources to support your study, available at www.pearsoned.co.uk/elliottquinn. With a plethora of useful study features and case examples, this text offers the knowledge and support you need to excel in your course.

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.

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.

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

This 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 book is about changing the way we do public administration. It is about the wielding of administrative discretion in the implementation of a constitutional power: eminent domain, taking private property for public use. Administrative Discretion in Action: A Narrative of Eminent Domain, emphasizes the normative, constitutional perspective of public administration to study administrators' decision-making process that balances economic, political, and community interests-often in that order. It is about facilitating dialogue between public officials and the public. This book is a tool for interested scholars, practitioners, students, and community members about the dynamic of administration of public affairs in a political context. Grounded in public administration theory, this book utilizes an in-depth, comprehensive analysis of the US Supreme Court's landmark 2005 decision in Kelo v. New London-from the perspective of public officials and community members in the state of Connecticut (home of Kelo case)-to share a balanced narrative.

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.

Thirty years after the entry into force of the Directive on liability for defective products (Council Directive 85/374/EEC), and in the light of the threat to user safety posed by consumer goods that make use of new technologies, it is essential to assess and determine whether the Directive remains an adequate legal response to the phenomenon of products brought to market that fail to ensure appropriate levels of safety for their users.European Product Liability is the result of an extensive international research project funded by the Polish National Science Centre. It brings together experienced scholars associated with the European Group on Tort Law (EGTL) and the European Research Group on Existing EC Private Law (Acquis Group). Individual country reports analyse the implementation of the Directive in the domestic law of several EU and EEA Member States (namely Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, and Switzerland) and the relationship of the implemented rules with the already existing rules of tort law. The country reports show that the practical significance of product liability differs widely in the various Member States. Also taking into account non-EU countries (Canada, Israel, South Africa and the USA), this book examines whether EU law will ensure sufficient safety for individuals using goods that have been produced using new technologies that are currently under development, such as major advances in mechatronics, nanotechnology, regenerative medicine and contour crafting. Together with an economic analysis of product liability it makes the book valuable for academics, practitioners, policy makers and all those interested in the subject.

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

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