We're undergoing a quiet revolution. The new currency in our digital economy is information, ideas, know-how, brands, systems and data. Whether you're starting a new business, building a brand identity or launching a new product or service, you're also creating intellectual property. Do it right and the intangible assets you create could be worth more than the products or services themselves. Do it wrong and you could miss vital opportunities, have your true value stolen or find yourself on the wrong side of an intellectual property dispute. Shireen Smith brings her years of experience as an IP lawyer with specialist knowledge of the digital playing field to highlight the new threats and opportunities of IP in today's global marketplace. Combining comprehensive coverage of all areas relating to IP with real case studies of IP in action, this book will enable you to... 1. Implement your ideas and unlock their full commercial potential; 2. Bullet-proof your brand and protect your best ideas; 3. Identify your most valuable intellectual property assets; 4. Harness IP to create scarcity and drive up business value; 5. Innovate and stay ahead in your industry; 6. Avoid accidentally infringing the rights of others

The convergence of various fields of technology is changing the fabric of society. Big data and data mining, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and blockchains are already affecting business models and leading to a social and economic transformations that have been dubbed by the fourth industrial revolution. Focusing on the framework of intellectual property rights, the contributions to this book analyse how the technical background of this massive transformation affects intellectual property law and policy and how intellectual property is likely to change in order to serve the society. Well-known authorities in intellectual property law offer in-depth chapters on the roles in this revolution of such concepts and actualities as the following: power and role of data as the raw material of the revolution; artificial inventors and creators; trade marks in the dimension of avatars and fictional game characters; concept of inventive step change where the person skilled in the art is virtual; data rights versus intellectual property rights; transparency in the context of big data; interrelations of data, technology transfer and antitrust; self-executable and ‘smart’ contracts; redefining the balance among exclusive rights, development, technology transfer and contracts; and proprietary information versus the public domain. The chapters also provide complete analyses of how big data changes decision-making processes, how sustainable development requires redefinition, how technology transfer is re-emerging as technology diffusion and how the role of contracts and blockchain as instruments of monitoring and enforcement are being defined. Offering the first in-depth legal commentary and analysis of this highly topical issue, the book approaches the fourth industrial revolution from the perspectives of technical background, society and law. Its authoritative analysis of how the data-driven economy influences innovation and technology transfer is without peer. It will be welcomed by practicing lawyers in intellectual property rights and competition law, as well as by academics, think tanks and policymakers.

The convergence of various fields of technology is changing the fabric of society. Big data and data mining, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and blockchains are already affecting business models and leading to a social and economic transformations that have been dubbed by the fourth industrial revolution. Focusing on the framework of intellectual property rights, the contributions to this book analyse how the technical background of this massive transformation affects intellectual property law and policy and how intellectual property is likely to change in order to serve the society. Well-known authorities in intellectual property law offer in-depth chapters on the roles in this revolution of such concepts and actualities as the following: power and role of data as the raw material of the revolution; artificial inventors and creators; trade marks in the dimension of avatars and fictional game characters; concept of inventive step change where the person skilled in the art is virtual; data rights versus intellectual property rights; transparency in the context of big data; interrelations of data, technology transfer and antitrust; self-executable and 'smart' contracts; redefining the balance among exclusive rights, development, technology transfer and contracts; and proprietary information versus the public domain. The chapters also provide complete analyses of how big data changes decision-making processes, how sustainable development requires redefinition, how technology transfer is re-emerging as technology diffusion and how the role of contracts and blockchain as instruments of monitoring and enforcement are being defined. Offering the first in-depth legal commentary and analysis of this highly topical issue, the book approaches the fourth industrial revolution from the perspectives of technical background, society and law. Its authoritative analysis of how the data-driven economy influences innovation and technology transfer is without peer. It will be welcomed by practicing lawyers in intellectual property rights and competition law, as well as by academics, think tanks and policymakers.

This Article argues that the revolution in the law of intellectual property threatens traditional conceptions of property rights. The worst enemy of the music and movie industries is not the pirate but the homeowner. We are in the midst of a revolution in our understanding of property in which the rights of the holders of patents, copyrights, and trademarks are being steadily extended. As a consequence, more traditional property rights are being eroded. That is the real lesson behind cases such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, BMG v. Gonzalez, and the lesser known but very important Davidson v. Jung. One of the most peculiar features of this revolution is that its proponents have earned a reputation as the defenders of property rights. On one side of the controversy, according to the commonly accepted view, stand the protectors of property who support the enormous increase in the rights of what we increasingly call “intellectual property.” On the other side, according to this conventional view, stand those who oppose property itself. The conventional view is incorrect. Focusing on copyright, the Article argues first that the Lockean justification that is often advanced in support of intellectual property rights is fundamentally misconceived. Second, looking to history as well as to the present, the Article shows that previously neglected aspects of copyright law shed a surprising light on the public nature of copyright protection. Finally, the Article argues that the intellectual property revolution is being advanced through a combination of devices, including product design, contract, statute, and education. These devices are being used to restrict the rights of purchasers of copyrighted materials, and to reeducate the populace to accept the reduction in their rights that is essential to the success of the revolution. Copyright and patent law are dedicated to bringing writings and inventions to the public. That is their justification under the Constitution. The holders of copyrights and patents are using the language of property to attempt a subtle but decisive shift in the purpose of intellectual property law in the direction of purely private entitlement and away from any public benefit. The endpoint of the revolution is an assault on ownership, as the purchasers of copyrighted materials are turned into renters. This development portends a vast legal and social transformation leading to the dominance of the copyright industries. Judge Easterbrook has written that just as there was no law of the horse in the past, despite the undoubted importance of the horse, so there should be no law of the computer now that it is of central importance to society. But there was indeed a law of the horse, which we generally term “feudalism,” and it came into being because of the superiority of the horse soldier over the foot soldier. The owners of horses and the hardware that was needed to outfit them attained social and legal ascendancy. They were a superior class, and their power was expressed in the central legal importance of real property. Ironically, Judge Easterbrook himself is helping in the creation of a new law of the horse, one that is conferring upon the owners of software the powers that went with the ownership of real property in feudal regimes. This Article explains why this new law of the horse must be rejected.

A fundamental reassessment of the contribution of patenting to British industrialisation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

This book examines the history of the concepts of intellectual property and the current state of U.S. and international intellectual property law. In this timely and readable volume, law professor Aaron Schwabach explores the three traditional categories of intellectual property—copyright, patent, and trademark. He traces their historical development from medieval times to the present and observes how intellectual property law has responded to successive waves of technological change. Intellectual Property examines all sides of current controversies and crises in this fast-changing field, particularly those resulting from the digital information revolution. Because ideas are not constrained by national borders, the author focuses on intellectual property, including trade secrets, as an international phenomenon, emphasizing the experiences and contributions of a wide variety of countries and cultures. An essential resource for students and researchers—and anyone else who needs to know how to use and/or protect intellectual property.

Rules regulating access to knowledge are no longer the exclusive province of lawyers and policymakers and instead command the attention of anthropologists, economists, literary theorists, political scientists, artists, historians, and cultural critics. This burgeoning interdisciplinary interest in “intellectual property” has also expanded beyond the conventional categories of patent, copyright, and trademark to encompass a diverse array of topics ranging from traditional knowledge to international trade. Though recognition of the central role played by “knowledge economies” has increased, there is a special urgency associated with present-day inquiries into where rights to information come from, how they are justified, and the ways in which they are deployed. Making and Unmaking Intellectual Property, edited by Mario Biagioli, Peter Jaszi, and Martha Woodmansee, presents a range of diverse—and even conflicting—contemporary perspectives on intellectual property rights and the contested sources of authority associated with them. Examining fundamental concepts and challenging conventional narratives—including those centered around authorship, invention, and the public domain—this book provides a rich introduction to an important intersection of law, culture, and material production.