The Internet and the Emerging Importance of New Forms of Intellectual Property

The Internet and the Emerging Importance of New Forms of Intellectual Property scrutinizes the existence of commonalities in the realm of intellectual property (IP) rights. 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 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 as well. This book poses the question of what risks and advantages accrue to such IP or ‘IP-like’ rights.

What’s in this book:

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 put forth in the book include the use of specialized courts or judges and of private standards, and these suggestions help in moving towards a synthesis of the legal status for ‘new’ forms of IP rights. 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 final chapters discuss the complexities of enforcement which impacts substantive IP and can be said to be its own ‘form’ of IP.

How will this help you:

Being a groundbreaking work on the new forms of IP rights, this book clarifies the legal status of ‘new’ forms of IP and provides a systematic analysis of how IP law applies to intangible rights beyond patent, trademark, and copyright. The book serves as a useful springboard to litigators and judges for adjudicating IP cases arising from Internet use. Practitioners, judges, and policymakers will all welcome this work. 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.