"...an excellent guide for inexperienced or junior lawyers or more experienced lawyers looking for a simplified overview." Student Law Journal, 2010
"This book's strength...lies in [its] sheer accessibility and confident guidance to the reader" 1709 Blog, 2010
“This book certainly achieves its aims of setting out the law in an accessible and digestible way.” Entertainment Law Review (review of last edition)
The Intellectual Property and Media Law Companion, 4th edition is the only title in the market that combines intellectual property and media law in one book. In an era of convergence and with the ever-increasing value of content and brands, intellectual property law and media law have never been more significant.
Lawyers, media and technology professionals, and students of the law, alike, will benefit from the clear layout and style of this book – making it a ‘must have’ for your bookshelf. This book should be your first point of reference when advising your clients or colleagues, or for enabling you to excel in your particular field of media or technology.
With case and legislation citations included throughout, this is a user-friendly starting-point for researching primary sources.
THE 4TH EDITION CONTAINS FULL UPDATES ON CHANGES AND DEVELOPMENTS, INCLUDING:
- A new section on Community trade marks
- Expanded sections on confidential information and content clearance
- An in-depth look at the application of IP and media law in the music, film, television and marketing industries, with an explanation of common deal terms for media agreements and a focus on the impact of new media
Graphics, flowcharts and bullet points are used throughout to make complex information easier to understand and recall.
As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, there has never been a more crucial time to stay on top of the areas covered in this book.
The book is part of the Montagu and Weston Legal Practice Companions series edited by Gerald Montagu and Mark Weston and published by Bloomsbury Professional. Other titles in the series include the Legal Practice Companion and the Banking and Capital Markets Companion. Gerald is a partner in the tax group at Davenport Lyons and Mark is a partner at Matthew Arnold and Baldwin LLP where he heads the Commercial/IP/IT team.
Reviews:
Both Intellectual Property Law and Media Law have significant cross-over. For example, lawyers advising a television company will need a broad understanding of media law issues like defamation and content control whilst, at the same time, have a firm grasp of intellectual property law issues like copyright and database rights. This fourth edition of Intellectual Property and Medial Law Companion, coming 11 years after the last edition, aims to adopt the popular style and format of the Legal Practice Companion by breaking down this complex area of law into small manageable sections.
Intellectual Property and Medial Law Companion is written by three experienced practitioners with a mixture of private practice and in-house experience. It is split into five parts: intellectual property; content clearance; music industry; film and television; and marketing. Each part is then, in turn, divided into a number of chapters. For example, the part on content clearance includes an overview of defamation, offensive material and contempt of court. Similarly, the marketing part looks at advertising and sponsorship. This approach ensures the different topics are clearly separated.
I am a fan of the Legal Practice Companion as it provides an excellent overview of the substantial amount of material covered on the LPC. In a similar vein, I am also a fan of Intellectual Property and Medial Law Companion as it covers the main topics in a straight-forward and accessible way. Excellent use is made of bulleted paragraphs to show the distinct issues which need to be considered. There are also a number of invaluable tables, summaries and flow charts. An excellent example of this is the flow chart on page 208 explaining where proceedings should be issued for a community trade mark infringement claim: vital for any practitioner.
The approach of Intellectual Property and Medial Law Companion, by summarising the law, does however mean it can, at times, seem rather superficial and oversimplify matters. For example, when looking at consumer credit advertising it says that it is "regulated by the OFT". In my view, this is technically incorrect: it is regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and associated regulations and supervised or enforced by the OFT. This is, however, only a minor issue and does not detract from the excellent overview it provides. Lawyers looking for a more detailed account of the law can, of course, look elsewhere and this is beyond the scope of this text in any event. Its price, at only £35, should mean that Intellectual Property and Medial Law Companion it is an excellent guide for inexperienced or junior lawyers or more experienced lawyers looking for a simplified overview.
Reviewed on 29 October 2010
