For indigenous cultures, property is an alien concept. Yet the market-driven industries of the developed world do not hesitate to exploit indigenous raw materials, from melodies to plants, using intellectual property law to justify their behaviour. Existing intellectual property law, for the most part, allows industries to use indigenous knowledge and resources without asking for consent and without sharing the benefits of such exploitation with the indigenous people themselves. It should surprise nobody that indigenous people object. Recognizing that the commercial exploitation of indigenous knowledge and resources takes place in the midst of a genuine and significant clash of cultures, the eight contributors to this important book explore ways in which intellectual property law can expand to accommodate the interests of indigenous people to their traditional knowledge, genetic resources, indigenous names and designations, and folklore.In so doing they touch upon such fundamental issues and concepts as the following: collective rights to the living heritage; relevant human rights norms; benefit-sharing in biological resources; farmers rights; the practical needs of documentation, assistance, and advice; the role of customary law; bioprospecting and biopiracy; and public domain. As a starting point toward mutual understanding and a common basis for communication between Western-style industries and indigenous communities, "Indigenous Heritage and Intellectual Property" is of immeasurable value.It offers not only an in-depth evaluation of the current legal situation under national, regional and international law including analyses of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other international instruments, as well as initiatives of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and other international bodies but also probes numerous further possibilities. While no one concerned with indigenous culture or environmental issues can afford to ignore it, this book is also of special significance to practitioners and policymakers in intellectual property law in relation to indigenous heritage. This book, here in its second edition, presents the most recent state of knowledge in the field.

Royalty payments are once again becoming a hot button issue for authors and artists, as well as other holders of copyright or related rights, because they fail to receive adequate compensation for the use of their work on the internet. This volume from the 2015 ALAI Congress contributes to the international discussion of this issue by examining the causes of the problem and possible solutions, including a set of business models to compensate for internet usage. The volume contains mainly English as well as French and Spanish contributions.

This book deals comprehensively with the major treaties and conventions covering the law of international copyright and neighbouring rights. It explains the complex legal, economic and political background to the treaties and their contents, and how they inter-relate. There is also practical commercial discussion of how copyright and neighbouring rights are treated in international trade measures such as GATT, WTO, NAFTA, and bilateral and unilateral treaties, with a section devoted to how unilateral trade measures are applied by the USA in particular. There is also some discussion of how international copyright law and neighbouring rights may develop in the future. The book is intended to be a definitive account of the law of international copyright and neighbouring rights, but it is also intended to be accessible to non-specialist practitioners. It is fully cross-referenced to a forthcoming companion volume, European Copyright Law and Policy (expected to publish in 2008), offering readers a comprehensive approach to the subject. The author has been consulted on copyright policy on numerous occasions by various governmental and non-governmental organisations within and outside the EC, and therefore is ideally placed to give an inside view on how policy is formed.

This work is the leading guide to the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT), the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), and the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances and includes a chapter on the Marrakesh Treaty of 2013. More than ten years have passed since the entry into force of the WCT and the WPPT. This revised commentary on the treaties reflects on the impact of their implementation and illustrates how they have come to be applied in different ways in particular through national legislation. It gives a detailed analysis of the development and meaning of all articles of these treaties and integrates current debates on copyright and neighbouring rights protection in the digital age. Written by two leading experts in copyright law, both closely involved in the evolution of the treaties and their implementation into national and EU law, this work is the definitive guide to the recently adopted international copyright treaties.