Intellectual Property On The Internet

Report addresses the far-reaching impact that digital technologies-- the Internet in particular-- have had on intellectual property (IP) and the international IP system.

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.

I completed the original manuscript of Digital Copyright in 2000, two years after Congress enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The 1976 Copyright Act was itself 24 years old, and beginning to show its age. The Internet, in contrast, was still new and shiny and scary, especially for legacy entertainment and information businesses and the copyright lawyers who represented them.Seventeen years later, the Internet has become an essential feature of all of our lives and the copyright laws designed to tame it seem elderly and barnacle-encrusted. Remarkably, the legislative process that has made sensible copyright law reform all but impossible has stayed largely unchanged. Congress and the Copyright Office have recently launched what is billed as a comprehensive reexamination of copyright law with the goal of overhauling the law for the 21st century. It seems likely that these efforts will hew to the patterns of earlier copyright revision. Perhaps we stick with the tried and true approach to making copyright laws, even though it results in bad laws, because the process works so well for so many of the participants. Members of Congress can rely on affected industries to come up with broadly acceptable compromises, and to take on much of the burden of pressuring other interested groups to swallow them. Meanwhile, Senators and Representatives can continue to collect generous campaign contributions. The Copyright Office can be the center of attention as it plays a crucial role in managing the multilateral negotiations and interpreting their results to Congress. Copyright lobbyists and trade organizations can collect hefty fees from their members, in return for supplying them with laws that will give them competitive advantages against the next new thing, whatever it is. Because the laws that emerge from this process don't work very well, meanwhile, everyone can look forward to another round.Although the book is ancient in Internet time, people seem to have continued to read it. Now that it has finally gone out of print, I'm delighted to be able to make it more freely available under a Creative Commons license. In addition to the Afterword that I wrote for the 2006 paperback edition, I have included a postscript looking back briefly on what, if anything, we might have learned from the aftermath of the stories told in this book.Postscript is available at: 'https://ssrn.com/abstract=2968546' https://ssrn.com/abstract=2968546.

"The past 20 years have seen a revolution in the way that we live, socialise and do business around the globe. Borders and barriers have fallen, giving consumers of digital information unlimited sources of data. The Internet has created a universe of convenience for the consumer. Just as society evolves, so too must the law. The sharing of online content creates challenges for IP law, well beyond the scope of the pre-digital era. Content containing intellectual property can be shipped instantaneously around the world with the click of a mouse. We face a modern problem that our technological world accelerates at a rate that can leave our IP framework in the dust. We have seen these examples played out in the music and film industries, as well as in the electronic book publishing industry. We have also come to see that the enforcement of IP rights in cyberspace gives rise to unique cross-border enforcement issues. Edited by Neville Cordell, IP partner at international law firm Allen & Overy, this guide contains analysis and guidance on how IP laws are applied to the Internet in 19 major jurisdictions worldwide, including chapters from leading experts at Herbert Smith, Norton Rose, Clifford Chance, Quinn Emanuel and Kim & Chang. Chapters explore, on a comparative basis, the means of protection for a range of online content offered by copyright and database rights, trademarks and patents, considering issues such as infringement, liability, possible exemptions and remedies including disclosure orders against internet service providers. This exciting new title is essential reading for lawyers, in-house counsel, media and business professionals who must deal with the challenges of managing digital intellectual property and wish to understand how best to protect such works from infringement internationally"--Page [4] of cover.

In 1998, copyright lobbyists succeeded in persuading Congress to enact laws greatly expanding copyright owners' control over individuals' private uses of their works. The efforts to enforce these new rights have resulted in highly publicised legal battles between established media, and new upstarts. In this enlightening and well-argued book, law professor Jessica Litman questions whether copyright laws crafted by lawyers and their lobbyists really make sense for the vast majority of us. Should every interaction between ordinary consumers and copyright-protected works be restricted by law? Is it practical to enforce such laws, or expect consumers to obey them? What are the effects of such laws on the exchange of information in a free society? Litman's critique exposes the 1998 copyright law as an incoherent patchwork. She argues for reforms that reflect common sense and the way people actually behave in their daily digital interactions. This paperback edition includes an afterword that comments on recent developments, such as the end of the Napster story, the rise of peer-to-peer file sharing, the escalation of a full-fledged copyright war, the filing of lawsuits against thousands of individuals, and the June 2005 Supreme Court decision in the Grokster case.

A comprehensive overview of intellectual property law, this handbook will be a vital read for all invested in the field of IP law. Topics include the foundations of IP law; its emergence and development in various jurisdictions; its rules and principles; and current issues arising from the existence and operation of IP law in a political economy.