Beyond Intellectual Property

Cultural property, aboriginal people, ethnobiology, legal status, laws.

"This is a book for academics interested in both knowledge and property-historically, sociologically and anthropologically"--

New instruments for protecting investment in information have been historically important for initiating long-wave economic cycles. William Kingston argues that although IP has been one such method, it is increasingly proving ineffective because its laws have been progressively shaped by the interests that benefit from them, rather than by visions of the public good. He demonstrates that repair will require such visions, which would also underwrite radically new forms of information protection. --

This volume brings together various perspectives to re-conceptualise IP protection beyond borders within a broader public international law framework.

This timely book provides the first legal and policy analysis of the intellectual property (IP) aspects of a rapidly-growing category of regulatory measures affecting the presentation and advertising of certain health-related goods, namely tobacco, alcohol, food, and pharmaceuticals.

The term ‘intellectual property’ has come to include numerous intangible rights beyond the traditional ‘Big Three’ (patent, trademark and copyright) – rights that force us to reconsider and maybe also change the object and purpose of intellectual property (IP). Not only do these rights generally have less solid normative footing and few if any well understood inherent limits, but the borders of their misappropriation are hard to draw. This groundbreaking book scrutinizes the existence of commonalities in this realm, and poses the question of what risks and advantages accrue to such IP or ‘IP-like’ rights. Sixteen distinguished contributors offer in-depth analyses of such rights as the following: - trade secrets; - image and publicity rights; - geographical indications; - traditional knowledge; - protection of databases; and - sports rights and ambush marketing. Recommendations and solutions investigated include the use of specialized courts or judges and of private standards. There are also thoughtful considerations of practices such as forum-shifting and an analysis of the special value of evolving Chinese law as a ‘norm laboratory’. Two chapters discuss the complexities of enforcement. Enforcement impacts substantive intellectual property and can be said to be its own ‘form’ of IP. Practitioners, judges, academics, and policymakers will all welcome this work and value it highly. Its contributors collectively take a giant step toward clarifying and synthesizing one of the most baffling areas of current law both internationally and at national level around the globe.

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.