Intellectual Property: Legal Frameworks, Policy and Practice

The major breakthroughs in cutting-age technologies in the last two decades have fundamentally changed the world, so as the intellectual property (IP) law, which is closely connected with, and constantly affected by, the technological advancement from its birth. This new edition of the book, on one hand, follows the basic structure of the first edition to systematically introduce the international framework such as TRIPS Agreement within which IP law operates, the enforcement and WTO dispute settlement mechanism concerning international IP disputes, the overall implications of international IP protection for global competition between developed and developing countries in an integrated world market, as well as major national differences in IP protection, focusing on three major jurisdictions: the US, the EU and China. On the other hand, the new edition devoted more content on the interaction between IP and cutting-age technologies such as digital, Internet, software, AI, and life sciences based on the subject areas of IP law, and increased the weight on China’s IP laws and practices because China has become the world leader in some key technologies, and as a result started to lead in IP law and practices. The new edition is intended not only to fill the void in IP law between the past and the present, but also to bridge the gap of understanding of IP systems between the east and the west.