Intellectual property rights and their overlaps are considered in light of rights purposes, relying on the concept of a balance of rights as the measuring rod for assessment of the consequences resulting from the exercise of overlapping rights. Identifying the complex interface between different types of intellectual property rights, this book discusses the use of these rights and their effect on a diverse group of stakeholders, from individual users of e-books to large corporations operating search engines on the internet. The book suggests solutions to potentially objectionable uses of overlapping rights in an attempt to provide judiciary and law practitioners with an analytical framework for resolving disputes of overlaps in the intellectual property system. In doing so, the author investigates how use of intellectual property rights associated with one segment of the system can affect the carefully crafted balance of rights held by various stakeholders in an overlapping segment. In particular, the book suggests that a properly construed doctrine of misuse of intellectual property rights would provide an adequate response to the challenge posed by improper use of overlapping intellectual property rights. This book is of particular interest to law practitioners, managers in advanced technology and media industries, academics, and university students who work with or analyze intellectual property and new technologies.

Providing a comprehensive and systematic commentary on the nature of overlapping Intellectual Property rights and their place in practice, this book is a major contribution to the way that IP is understood. IP rights are mostly studied in isolation, yet in practice each of the legal categories created to protect IP rights will usually only provide partial legal coverage of the broader context in which such rights are actually created, used, and enforced. Consequently, often multiple IP rights may overlap, in whole or in part, with respect to the same underlying subject matter. Some patterns, for instance, in addition to being protected from copying under the design rights regime, may also be distinctive enough to warrant trade mark protection. Each chapter addresses a discrete pair of IP rights and is written by a specialist in that area. Facilitating an understanding of how and when those rights may be encountered in practice, each chapter is introduced by a hypothetical situation setting out the overlap discussed in the chapter. The conceptual and practical issues arising from this situation are then discussed, providing practitioners with a full understanding of the overlap. Also included is a valuable summary table setting out the legal position for each set of overlapping rights in jurisdictions across Europe, Central and South America, and Asia, and the differences between them.

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.

Intellectual property rights, conventionally seen as quite distinct, are increasingly overlapping with one another. There are several reasons for this: the expansion of IPRs beyond their traditional borders, the creation of new IPRs especially at EU level, the exploitation of gaps in the law by shrewd lawyers, and the use of unfair competition as an alternative when IPRs are either not available at all or expired. The convergence of several IPRs on the same subject-matter poses problems. As they are normally envisaged as water-tight categories, there are very few rules which cater for the sort of regime clash that any overlap of IPRs necessarily entails. This book's aim is to find appropriate rules to regulate overlaps and thereby avoid regime conflicts and undue unstructured expansion of IPRs. The book studies the practical consequences of each overlap at the international, European and national levels (where the laws of France, the UK and Germany are reviewed). It then analyses the reasons for the prohibition or authorisation of overlaps. This analysis enables the determination of criteria and principles that can be used to (re)map the overlaps to achieve appropriateness and legitimacy.

A timely examination of fundamental issues in intellectual property (IP) law, with international perspectives looking across regimes, jurisdictions, disciplines and professions.

Intellectual property rights and their overlaps are considered in light of rights purposes, relying on the concept of a balance of rights as the measuring rod for assessment of the consequences resulting from the exercise of overlapping rights. Identifying the complex interface between different types of intellectual property rights, this book discusses the use of these rights and their effect on a diverse group of stakeholders, from individual users of e-books to large corporations operating search engines on the internet. The book suggests solutions to potentially objectionable uses of overlapping rights in an attempt to provide judiciary and law practitioners with an analytical framework for resolving disputes of overlaps in the intellectual property system. In doing so, the author investigates how use of intellectual property rights associated with one segment of the system can affect the carefully crafted balance of rights held by various stakeholders in an overlapping segment. In particular, the book suggests that a properly construed doctrine of misuse of intellectual property rights would provide an adequate response to the challenge posed by improper use of overlapping intellectual property rights. This book is of particular interest to law practitioners, managers in advanced technology and media industries, academics, and university students who work with or analyze intellectual property and new technologies.

This volume is for students and scholars of intellectual property law, practitioners seeking creative arguments from across the field, and policymakers searching for solutions to changing social and technological issues. The book explores the tensions between two fundamentally competing demands made of IP law.