Intellectual Property

‘. . . this book is well written, well organized, and easily accessible to readers from various backgrounds. It would be a useful text for anyone seeking to gain some understanding of the basic theoretical and policy issues related to the public debate about IP rights, and copyright in particular.’
– Julia J. Osei-Tutu, Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice

‘This book is filled with fascinating voices and perspectives on the public domain that will ensure that any reader will be challenged and forced to think (and possibly argue) with a dedicated group of thinkers. . . an important and learned collection that should be read by a large group of people. . . an important book on the public domain.’
– Mathias Klang, Scripted

‘As a multi-disciplinary work on a subject of great topicality, this book deserves all the attention it can get.’
– The Commonwealth Lawyer

‘A meticulous and scholarly examination of the concept of intellectual property. A thorough historical analysis combined with balanced discussion of contemporary debate on the issue, especially in the modern world when technology and the very definition of intellectual property is changing faster than ever before. . . Highly recommended for college libraries and anyone seeking an in-depth, exhaustively researched account on the subject.’
– Library Bookwatch

‘Of all cultural assets, the public domain is at once the most valuable and the most contentious. It is the source from which authors, inventors, designers and creators derive the building blocks with which they construct their intellectual edifices. Yet the status of so much of its content is ambiguous: each integer within the public domain may be free for all to use; it may be fused with other units to form a piece of intellectual property – or it may even simultaneously be both. The panel of contributors presents the views of creators and of consumers, of believers and of iconoclasts, of those who wish to retain the sanctity of the public domain as an open resource and those who see its justification not in what it contains but in what can be extracted from it for private gain. It is impossible to read this volume without putting one’s cherished notions at risk.’
– Jeremy Phillips, Olswang; Intellectual Property Institute and IPKat weblog

As technological progress marches on, so anxiety over the shape of the public domain is likely to continue if not increase. This collection helps to define the boundaries within which the debate over the shape of law and policy should take place.

From historical analysis to discussion of contemporary developments, the importance of the public domain in its cultural and scientific contexts is explored by lawyers, scientists, economists, librarians, journalists and entrepreneurs. The contributions will both deepen and enliven the reader’s understanding of the public domain in its many guises, and will also serve to highlight the public domain’s key role in innovation.

This book will appeal not only to students and researchers coming from a variety of fields, but also to policymakers in the IP field and those more generally interested in the public domain, as well as those more directly involved in the current movements towards open access, open science and open source.

Contents:

Introduction: The Many Faces of the Public Domain
Hector MacQueen and Charlotte Waelde

1. In Search of the Public Domain during the Prehistory of Copyright Law
F. Willem Grosheide

2. Copyright’s Public Domain
Ronan Deazley

3. The Public Domain: Right or Liberty?
John Cahir

4. The Public Domain and International Intellectual Property Law Treaties
Antony Taubman

5. The Public Interest in the Public Domain
Gillian Davies

6. Altering the Contours of the Public Domain
Fiona Macmillan

7. Creativity, Innovation and Intellectual Property: A New Approach for the 21st Century
John Howkins

8. The Public Domain and the Librarian
Toby Bainton

9. The Public Domain and the Creative Author
Bill Thompson

10. The Public Domain and the Economist
Manfredi M.A. La Manna

11. The Public Domain and Public Sector Information
Richard Susskind OBE

12. Audiences in Tradition: Traditional Knowledge and the Public Domain
Johanna Gibson

13. Scientific Research Agendas: Controlled and Shaped by the Scope of Patentability
Helen Wallace and Sue Mayer

14. The Public Domain: Ideology vs. Interest
Ann Bruce

15. A Rights-Free World – Is it Workable, and What is the Point?
Graham Dutfield

16. The Priorities, the Values, the Public
Charlotte Waelde

Index