The Making of Modern Intellectual Property Law
Published on 8. July 1999
Book
Hardback
264 pages
978-0-521-56363-5 (ISBN)
Description
One of the common themes in recent public debate has been the law's inability to accommodate the new ways of creating, distributing and replicating intellectual products. In this book the authors argue that in order to understand many of the problems currently confronting the law, it is necessary to understand its past. This is its first detailed historical account. In this book the authors explore two related themes. First, they explain why intellectual property law came to take its now familiar shape with sub-categories of patents, copyright, designs and trade marks. Secondly, the authors set out to explain how it is that the law grants property status to intangibles. In doing so they explore the rise and fall of creativity as an organising concept in intellectual property law, the mimetic nature of intellectual property law and the important role that the registration process plays in shaping intangible property.
Reviews / Votes
'Whilst the book contains many historical details about various statutes, the authors are much more concerned with concepts, narratives and trends. Their real aim is to provide a better understanding of modern intellectual property law and the problems that are associated with it. ... This is an excellent and much needed contribution to the study of intellectual property law. Far too often those working in this field are concerned solely with the day to day development of its object of protection and the need to protect various (new) forms of creation and innovation. This book provides the in depth analysis of the concepts that should shape the development of a coherent long-term strategy. ' Paul Torremans, University of Leicester 'Bently and Sherman take a wide legal perspective and offer helpful readings and insights, although always acknowledging the fluidity of the themes and concepts they address. It is an ambitious project, persuasively executed. They make a convincing case for their argument that a sensitive appraisal and understanding of past narratives is essential if - as we must - we are to create the new narratives needed to meet new demands.' The Cambridge Law Journal 'This is a very readable and thought provoking book which should be of interest to anyone concerned with the philosophical basis of intellectual property law and the reform of that law to accommodate the demands of twenty-first entry technology. The authors certainly make their point that to know where we are going, we need to know where we began.' Media & Arts Law ReviewMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
584 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-56363-5 (9780521563635)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Content
Part I. Towards a Property in Intangibles: 1. Property in mental labour; 2. The mentality of intangible property; Part II. The Emergence of a Modern Intellectual Property Law: 3. Designing the law; 4. Managing the legal boundaries; Part III. Towards an Intellectual Property Law: 5. Crystallization of the categories; 6. Completing the framework; 7. Explanations for the shape of intellectual property law; Part IV. Transformations in the Intellectual Property Law: 8. Changes in the framework; 9. From creation to object; 10. Closure and its consequences; 11. Remembering and forgetting; Bibliography.