Information Law and Intellectual Property Rights in a Digital Landscape

A wide range of laws now affect all sectors of the information industry. Authors, creators, publishers, aggregators, information specialists, web designers, and individual users are all affected. Individuals operating in many different sectors such as education, business and commerce, health-related, central and local government, charities and not-for-profit organizations and others are all subject to an increasing range of laws governing how information is created, stored, used, disclosed and accessed. Content and information and communications technologies carry with them great potential but also great risks. This edited collection contributed by leading experts in the field will provide a thorough grounding in the key substantive areas where laws and other regulatory instruments apply to information work.
It will cover all of the key areas including: legal systems and sources; intellectual property rights (patents, trade marks and copyright); data protection; freedom of information; disability discrimination and accessibility laws; contracts and licences; electronic commerce and online trading; liability for information provision; and, assessing risks and developing a strategy for practical legal compliance. Key aspects of the law in these areas as it affects information workers will be laid out and the practical implications of each area will be discussed and illuminated. This book will be essential reading for the growing cohort of information professionals who need to understand the increasingly dynamic and complex legal and regulatory framework that applies to information and communications technologies.