Books in the Cambridge Intellectual Property and Information Law series

Exclusions from Patentability reviews the history of the adoption of exclusions from patentability under the European Patent Convention since its first conception in 1949 through to its most recent revision. The analysis shows how other intellectual property treaties, such as UPOV, the Strasbourg Patent Convention, PCT, the EU Biotech Directive and TRIPS have affected the framing of the exclusions. Particular attention is given to those exclusions considered the most contentious (computer programmes, discoveries, medical treatments, life forms and agriculture) and those decisions which have been most influential in shaping the approaches by which the exclusions have been interpreted. The 'morality' exclusion and the interpretation of the exclusions are discussed critically and suggestions for coherent interpretation are made.

Vigorous public debate about intellectual property has a long history. In this assessment of the shifting relationships between the law and the economic, social and cultural sources of creativity and innovation during the long-nineteenth century, Megan Richardson and Julian Thomas examine the 'fashioning' of the law by focusing on emblematic cases, key legislative changes and broader debates. Along the way, the authors highlight how, in 'the age of journalism', the press shaped, and was shaped by, the idea of intellectual property as a protective crucible for improvements in knowledge and progress in the arts and sciences. The engagement in our own time between intellectual property and the creative industries remains volatile and unsettled. As the authors conclude, the fresh opportunities for artistic diversity, expression and communication offered by new media could see the place of intellectual property in the scheme of law being reinvented once again.

This book was first published in 2005. Copyright 'exceptions' or 'users' rights' have become a highly controversial aspect of copyright law. Most recently, Member States of the European Union have been forced to amend their systems of exceptions so as to comply with the Information Society Directive. Taking the newly amended UK legislation as a case study, this book examines why copyright exceptions are necessary and the forces that have shaped the present legislative regime in the UK. It seeks to further our understanding of the exceptions by combining detailed doctrinal analysis with insights gained from a range of other sources. The principal argument of the book is that the UK's current system of 'permitted acts' is much too restrictive and hence is in urgent need of reform, but that paradoxically the Information Society Directive points the way towards a much more satisfactory approach.

The relationships between international intellectual property treaties, the United Nations international environmental treaties (first and foremost the Convention on Biological Diversity), the relevant customary norms and soft law form a complex network of obligations that sometimes conflict with each other. The first set of treaties creates private rights while the latter affirms the sovereignty rights of States over genetic resources and related knowledge and creates international regimes of exploitation of the same. Jonathan Curci proposes solutions to the conflicts between treaties through the concept of 'mutual supportiveness', including the construction of a national-access and benefit-sharing regime, mandatory contractual provisions in relevant international contracts, a defensive protection when genetic resource-related traditional knowledge is unjustly patented through the analysis of the concepts of 'ordre public and morality', 'certificate of origin' in the patent application and 'novelty-destroying prior art' and positive protection through existing and sui generis intellectual property rights and misappropriation regimes.

The British Patent System during the Industrial Revolution 1700-1852 presents a fundamental reassessment of the contribution of patenting to British industrialisation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It shows that despite the absence of legislative reform, the British patent system was continually evolving and responding to the needs of an industrialising economy. Inventors were able to obtain and enforce patent rights with relative ease. This placed Britain in an exceptional position. Until other countries began to enact patent laws in the 1790s, it was the only country where inventors were frequently able to appropriate returns from obtaining intellectual property rights, thus encouraging them to develop the new technology industrialisation required.

The protection of privacy and personality is one of the most fascinating issues confronting any legal system. This book provides a detailed comparative analysis of the laws relating to commercial exploitation of personality in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. It examines the difficulties in reconciling privacy and personality with intellectual property rights in an individual's identity and in balancing such rights with the competing interests of freedom of expression and freedom of competition. This analysis will be useful for lawyers in legal systems which have yet to develop a sophisticated level of protection for interests in personality. Equally, lawyers in systems which provide a higher level of protection will benefit from the comparative insights into determining the nature and scope of intellectual property rights in personality, particularly questions relating to assignment, licensing, and post-mortem protection.

Providing a foundation for future law reform, Burdon critically examines how information privacy law applies in a world where data about everything is collected. This timely work will appeal to scholars, students, and anyone interested in law and its role in a rapidly changing technological society.

Investigating fundamental issues in intellectual property (IP) law, this comparative collection brings together leading authors from around the world to provide perspectives across regimes, jurisdictions, and professions. This timely volume will appeal to a wide international audience that includes scholars, practicing lawyers, judges, and graduate students.

Featuring contributors from a dozen countries, this comprehensive volume examines patenting through an interdisciplinary and global perspective. It reveals the persistent diversity of patent systems despite ongoing globalization projects and will appeal to historians of science and technology, policy experts, intellectual property lawyers, and economists alike.

Hudson assesses drafting options of copyright exceptions using insights from the standards and rules literature and case studies from cultural institutions. This will appeal to copyright scholars, cultural institution staff, government reform bodies, and academics interested in socio-legal studies, standards and rules analysis, and social norms.

Defamation and privacy, major and interrelated issues for law and media, are examined here by experts from common law jurisdictions. Aimed at a wide legal audience, this book will be of interest to all those working on commonwealth or US law, as well as scholars from wider jurisdictions.

The Internet, Warts and All links free speech, privacy and truth on the internet. It explains why laws fail, how Facebook, Google and others control and manipulate both the internet and the people on it. It is for anyone interested in law, politics and the societal impact of the internet.

Discussions about whether intellectual property (IP) is really property have been taking place for many years. Here, Rognstad comprehensively discusses the use of the property metaphor in relation to IP in a global perspective, making this valuable reading for academics, practitioners and policy makers working in the area of IP.

A review of the past and current rules regulating the copyright/design interface in fifteen countries that provides normative solutions for the future. It will appeal to academics, practising lawyers, judges, students and policy-makers alike searching to understand the law and find solutions to legal problems involving copyright and design laws.

Including a new chapter on copyright enforcement, this second edition details the substantial developments in EU law during the last decade, including major cases for the European Court of Justice, new treaties and new directives. Pascal Kamina also unravels the complexities of film protection in an additional thirteen new EU member states.

Defamation and privacy, major and interrelated issues for law and media, are examined here by experts from common law jurisdictions. Aimed at a wide legal audience, this book will be of interest to all those working on commonwealth or US law, as well as scholars from wider jurisdictions.

A history of access to knowledge in international copyright focusing on the key players, including NGOs and developing countries, who fought to establish principles of access in international copyright. Written in a clear and accessible style, this alternate history sheds light on current problems, issues and events.

Are intellectual property rights a threat to autonomy, global justice, indigenous rights, access to lifesaving knowledge and medicines? The essays in this volume examine the justification of patents, copyrights and trademarks in light of the political and moral controversy over TRIPS (the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights).

Copyright must evolve to support the opportunities and demands of the digital age, while balancing the interests of authors, owners, intermediaries and users of all types (including libraries, researchers and creators). This book contributes to the copyright debate and provides pathways for a structured policy discussion on copyright reform.

Our privacy on the internet is under threat from businesses such as Facebook and Google, government agencies such as the NSA and GCHQ, criminals and others. Internet Privacy Rights suggests a way to address these threats, using case studies and analysis to put together a coherent, rights-based way forward.

Adopting a comparative approach, this collection provides an overview of developments in privacy law such as the reform of data protection frameworks, privacy and the media, surveillance and social control, privacy and the Internet, and privacy and the courts.

Intellectual Property at the Edge provides a basis for the study of newly emerging intellectual property rights and defences, their history and their impact on creativity. It examines these developments comparatively: for each new development, scholars in two jurisdictions trace the evolution of the new legal norm.

Small market economies provide a unique insight into balancing competing interests in global intellectual property. As developed countries and net-importers of intellectual property, such economies can have similar concerns to some developing countries. Susy Frankel uses examples drawn from small market economies to explore global intellectual property issues.

Efforts to expand the scope of legal protection given to reputation and brands in the Asia Pacific region have led to considerable controversy. Written by a variety of experts, the essays in this book consider the developing law of reputation and brands in a fraught area.

The professional media enjoys greater protection than private individuals when preparing or publishing speech. The best-known example is the right of journalists to keep their sources confidential. Jan Oster explores whether these privileges are still justified, and how 'journalists' are actually to be defined in the internet age.

An examination of the nature and function of trade marks and brands, and the scope of their legal protection. Linguists, anthropologists, sociologists, business historians and philosophers provide their views on brands, and their legal counterparts explore the implications of their insights for trade mark law.

Concepts of Property in Intellectual Property Law explores the interaction between notions of property in law and particular aspects of intellectual property law. It considers how different understandings of property in the law of copyright, patent and trade marks lead to different outcomes in the scope of legal protection.

Alongside that of lawyers, an understanding of the changing nature of copyright infringement requires the inputs of economists, historians, technologists, sociologists, cultural theorists and criminologists. In this examination of the topic, specialists in such disciplines offer their appraisals, and a lawyer provides a commentary on each.

The cost of patent licenses needed to design a new genetic test or treatment may ultimately prevent research projects getting started, as individual components are protected by different patent owners. This book examines legal measures which might be used to solve the problem of fragmentation of patents in genetics.

An examination of the nature and function of trade marks and brands, and the scope of their legal protection. Linguists, anthropologists, sociologists, business historians and philosophers provide their views on brands, and their legal counterparts explore the implications of their insights for trade mark law.