Some copyright books, Part I

Global Copyright: Three Hundred Years Since the Statute of Anne, from 1709 to Cyberspace, is a collection of essays edited by the academic triumvirate of Lionel Bently (Herchel Smith Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Cambridge), Uma Suthersanen (Professor in International Intellectual Property Law, Queen Mary, University of London) and Paul Torremans (Professor of Intellectual Property Law, School of Law, University of Nottingham). tytoc collie holds all three in great esteem for a variety of reasons and begs to remind his Queen Mary colleague Uma that either she owes him a drink or vice versa ...

Edward Elgar Publishing -- which is becoming an integral part of the IP publishing environment these days -- has this to say about the book:

"This innovative book celebrates the tricentenary of modern copyright, which began with the enactment of the Statute of Anne by the British Parliament in 1709, and was soon followed by other copyright legislation abroad. The Statute of Anne is traditionally claimed to be the world’s first copyright statute, and is thus viewed as the origin of a system of national laws that today exists in virtually all countries of the world. However, this book illustrates that while there is some truth in this claim, it is also important to treat it with caution.

Written by leading experts from across the globe, this comprehensive (historical) analysis breaks new ground on modern copyright issues such as digital libraries, illegal downloading and distribution, international exhaustion and ‘new formalities’. The expert contributors consider what lessons can be learnt from the achievements made during the last 300 years, and whether they can be used to overcome the new challenges facing copyright".

This in-depth scientific analysis of the legacy of the Statute of Anne 300 years on from its origins will provide copyright practitioners, academics, policy makers and postgraduate students with a unique and fascinating read.".

tytoc collie is amused by the contrast between copyright's past, which we are coming increasingly to understand and to appreciate, and its future, which appears as a succession of economic, commercial and technological uncertainties to which the 18th and 19th century solution (private monopolies, individually enforced) and its 20th century successors (collective licensing and management) are struggling to adjust.

The cast of contributors is almost a reflection of the history of modern scholarship itself: diverse in its legal and philosophical roots, and perfectly capable of challenging long-held assumptions.  Of particular interest to this author is Christophe Geiger's essay on the past and present influence of the Statute of Anne on France which, together with Joris Deene's little piece on Anne's influence on Belgium, show that the minds of lawyers and policymakers in civilian Continental Europe are far from closed to foreign thought.

This volume makes for a most enjoyable and thought-provoking read.  This Kat hopes he doesn't have to wait another 300 years for the next such themed collection.

Bibliographic data: paperback, xiii + 522 pages.  The rest is a bit hazy.  The website lists the book's hardback details, which are ISBN 978 1 84844 766 0 and a price of £125 (online price £112.50 from the publisher). Rupture factor: mild.

Moral Rights: Principles, Practice and New Technology, by Mira T. Sundara Rajan, has been recently published by the US branch of Oxford University Press. Mira, who now occupies the Canada Research Chair in IP Law at the University of British Columbia, has also been touched by the magic wand of Queen Mary, where she was all-too-briefly a colleague of this reviewer.  Mira's is the second book on moral rights to emerge within the recent past, the first being the magisterial reference work by Gillian Davies and Kevin Garnett which was published by Sweet & Maxwell late last year (reviewed here). About this book the publisher explains that this is an entirely different sort of book so, if you thought that by spending £165 on Davies and Garnett you wouldn't want to buy another book on the topic, you'd be wrong:

"The doctrine of moral rights is based on the idea that authors have a special bond with their own creative work. At present, the legal status of moral rights demands clarification and assessment as never before, as the international expansion of moral rights occurs in the new environment of digital technology. Just as the survival of copyright law depends on its capacity to adapt effectively to the new technological environment, a new approach to moral rights is also necessary.

Moral Rights: Principles Practice and New Technology is the first work to comprehensively address the role of moral rights in an environment of digital technology, identifying the challenges and confronting moral rights in a digital environment. The challenges are addressed in both practical and theoretical terms, and examples drawn from the legislation and practice of key jurisdictions around the world. Moral Rights concludes with a consideration of how the concept of moral rights can contribute to the re-shaping of copyright law in a digital context."

The book builds from the foundations of moral rights in France and Germany, where their pedigree was quite respectable, and in the United Kingdom, where their legitimacy was not so widely accepted, before projecting them on to the larger canvases of Canada and the United States.  Mira also conducts a particularly interesting investigation into the points of intersection of the inherently personal concept of the moral right with the collaborative, more self-denying open source movement and other digital collectivities. Unlike some commentators who proclaim the death of moral rights, which they welcome on account of its obsolescence, Mira takes a more constructive approach: why jettison an old concept if you can find a new use or application for it?

Bibliographic data: paperback. xxi + 549 pages. ISBN 978-0-19-539031-5.  Price £95. Rupture factor: low. Book's web page here.

Something to read, Part II

There was once a law firm called Hammonds, but now we have learned to call it Squire Sanders Hammonds: that's the name on the cover of E-Commerce and Convergence: A Guide to the Law of Digital Media, the 4th edition of which has recently been published by Bloomsbury Professional under the general editorship of Mike Butler, who heads the firm's media team. As a former in-houser at what used to be Sun Microsystems (now Oracle), he must know a few things about the topic -- particularly the convergence bits of it which, while often exhilarating for consumers and exciting for salesmen, can be a real pain for others. Just imagine how you'd feel, as a car manufacturer, if a maker of fridges came up with a new model that cruised at a comfortably 120 kph on the local Autobahn. That's the sort of thing makers of phones, cameras, computers, printers, scanners, televisions and more besides have had to worry about.

Anyway, this is what the publisher has to say about it:

E-commerce and Convergence: A Guide to the Law of Digital Media recognises that electronic convergence – the coming together of the internet, broadcasting and content – has at last arrived [it would be difficult not to ...]. This book is the first text of its kind to bring together the disparate laws relating to digital content and online commercial activity [not quite. There is, for example, this Kat's E-Commerce and IT Law Handbook, here -- but Mike Butler's book is the first to seek to explain them in some sort of meaningfully converging context]. It explains the laws relating to issues as diverse as user generated content, video-on-demand, cookies and paid for searching.

The book is a practical guide aimed at both commercial executives and in-house counsel. It highlights issues not always immediately familiar to those who work with digital content including in particular laws relating to data. However, it is also a useful guide for any business starting or growing its on-line presence, especially with chapters relating to on-line contracting and branding.

With thick paper. plenty of charts and things, plus a useful glossary, you can actually get through this book much more quickly than the subject matter suggests. The text-in-boxes bits are sometimes too long to be elegant, since boxes in this Kat's opinion should never be allowed to stray over a page-turn. However the team, which includes the ever-insightful Chris McLeod, has done an admirable job.  Well done!

Bibliographic data: hardback, xxxiv + 240 pages.  ISBN 978-1-84592-452-2.  Rupture factor: low. Price £125, even if you buy it directly from the publisher here.

tytoc collie kept putting off the review of this book because it looked, frankly, a bit too earnest and serious and he always had other books to read which had more enjoyable-sounding titles. Let's face it, if you're faced with Innovation, Competition And Consumer Welfare In Intellectual Property Law, you know it isn't going to be a light read.  There is however a well-known maxim about not judging a book by its cover; the same should be recognised with regard to not judging a book by its title, since this work, by the eminent Italian academic Gustavo Ghidini (Professor of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, University of Milan, among other things), is neither difficult nor dull. It is not however expected that the next edition will be called Harry Potter and the Consumer Welfairies.

Now what does the publisher, Edward Elgar Publishing, have to say about this work?

"This authoritative book provides a comprehensive critical overview of the basic IP paradigms, such as patents, trademarks and copyrights. Their intersection with competition law and their impacts on the exercise of social welfare are analysed from an evolutionary perspective.

The analyses and proposals presented encompass the features and rationales of a legal field in constant evolution, and relate them to increasingly rapid technological, economic, social and geo-political developments. Gustavo Ghidini highlights the emerging trends that challenge the traditional ‘all-exclusionary’ vision of IP law and its application. The author expertly combines holistic, evolutionary and constitutionally oriented approaches, with the search for a rebalancing of the IP rights holders’ positions with citizens’ and users’ rights.

This book will appeal to academics, scholars and lawyers specializing in the realm of intellectual property, competition and comparative law".

While there is some commonality of subject matter and perhaps even of purpose between this book and that of William Kingston (reviewed here), both the style and the substance of their critical appraisals of IP differ in many respects. If you go for the one, be sure to read the other.

Bibliographic data: hardback, xix + 279 pages.  ISBN 978-1-84720-970-2. Rupture factor: low.  Price £75, but you can get it for only £67.50 from the publisher's website here.

Patents: some light reading for a rainy day

This post features four very different recent publications in the field of patents.  If you are going on (i) a long journey, (ii) a short journey on the London Underground system or (iii) any journey at all which involves you having to pass through any British Airport Authority air terminal when all flights in and out of London have been grounded by the turbulent effect of butterflies flapping their cute little wings in Tuvalu, you may want to read them all, one after the other.  If you are more selective, discerning or (as we lawyers like to say) specialised, one or two only will suffice.  The four books are:

* Figures of Invention: a History of Modern Patent Law, by academics Alain Pottage and Brad Sherman and published by Oxford University Press.  Based in London but presumably not stuck in transit, Alain Pottage is a Reader in Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, just down the road from this Kat's Holborn office, while Brad Sherman, now Professor of Law at the Griffith University, Brisbane, was formerly attached to the same institution.  According to the publisher,

"Taking the invention as its object of study, this book develops a radical new perspective on the making of modern patent law. It develops an extended historical and conceptual exploration of the invention in modern patent law. Focusing primarily on the figures that make inventions material, and on how to overcome the intangibility of ideas, this intellectually challenging book makes explicit a dimension of patent law that is not commonly found in traditional commentaries, treatises and cases.

The story is told from the perspective of the material media in which the intangible form of the invention is made visible; namely, models, texts, drawings, and biological specimens [This makes it conceptually stimulating to read, which is what the authors intend, but correspondingly a bit tricky to use as a conventional patent reference work]. This approach brings to light for the first time some essential formative moments in the history of patent law. For example, Figures of Invention describes the central role that scale models played in the making of nineteenth-century patent jurisprudence, the largely mythical character of the nineteenth-century theory that patents texts should function as a means of disclosing inventions [hang on there, some readers still believe this theory -- and it's more credible than Santa existing or Elvis still being alive ...!], and the profound conceptual changes that emerged from debates as to how to represent and disclose the first biological inventions [this has repercussions even now: we can ask whether the Budapest Treaty on the Deposit Microorganisms is still fit for purpose]. At the same time, this historical inquiry also reveals the basic conceptual architecture of modern patent law. The story of how inventions were represented is also the story of the formation of the modern concept of invention, or of the historical processes that shaped the terms in which patent lawyers still apprehend the intangible form of the invention.

Although the analysis focuses on the history of patent law in the United States, it develops themes that illuminate the evolution of patent regimes in Europe [In this regard, the US is the sun to Europe's moon. Europe reflects events and debates which are earlier and usually more articulately expressed in the US]. In combining close historical analysis with broad thematic reflection, Figures of Invention makes a distinctive contribution both to the field of patent law scholarship and to emerging interdisciplinary debates about the constitution of patent law and of intellectual property in general. ".

tytoc collie enjoyed this book, and its approach, which he happily commends to anyone who already knows a bit about patent law and wants a book that will enhance his understanding without in any sense intimidating him.  The book is almost too short, since it almost leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next. Some of the footnotes are naughtily long and contain content which might, on reconsideration, be of sufficient importance to promote above the line, but that does nothing to detract from the pleasure of reading this work.

Bibliographic data: Hardback, xi + 212 pages.  ISBN 978-0-19-959563-1. Price: £70. web page here.  Rupture factor: none.

* Rules of Patent Drafting: Guidelines from Federal Circuit Case Law, by Joseph E. Root, is also published by Oxford University Press but, unlike Pottage and Sherman, this tome emanates from OUP's busy, bustling, practice-oriented New York desk.  The author set up his own company, QualiPat, to develop an innovative programme for teaching patent drafting and has had the personal satisfaction of being able to implement that programme with UnitedLex, a legal consulting, technology and outsourcing firm, where he created a team from a group of engineers.  But does this book give personal satisfaction too?  Says the publisher's blurb:

"Patents are invalidated every day for reasons often stemming from avoidable error [Isn't that what judges are for?]  Rules of Patent Drafting: Guidelines from Federal Circuit Case Law helps patent drafters avoid such errors with a set of patent drafting rules derived from Federal Circuit decisions. By focusing on drafting principles, instead of abstract legal concepts, the reader gains a coherent, integrated understanding of what the Federal Circuit requires. The rules point the way to confident drafting.

Rules of Patent Drafting: Guidelines from Federal Circuit Case Law addresses a major development in patent law over the last two decades - the Disclosure Revolution. Claim construction now depends more on support from the specification than any other factor, and other determinants of validity have followed suit [Can this be the "the largely mythical character of the nineteenth-century theory that patents texts should function as a means of disclosing inventions" to which Pottage and Sherman allude?] Written description, the doctrine of equivalents, and definiteness, all look to the specification to determine the application of each of these doctrines, and others as well. This book guides the drafter in meeting all the requirements that the Federal Circuit has set out for patent validity. Beyond demonstrating how to ensure bare validity, the book goes further to illustrate techniques for achieving desired coverage through rules teaching breadth in drafting, claiming, and prosecuting [Breadth is not for the faint-hearted -- woe to the applicant whose claims run wider than his invention!]

The rules-based approach to patent drafting provides a clear framework to assist both the beginner and the experienced practitioner [and you have the comfort of telling your client, if anything goes wrong, that it's not your fault because you kept to the rules]. A learner is guided through the facets of a rule piece by piece, looking to the Federal Circuit rationale for each clause. Seasoned drafters can quickly update themselves or clarify specific points with precision. For either reader, the clear exposition communicates essential information rapidly and thoroughly".

Says tytoc collie, this helpful book saves the best bits for the end.  The last 100 pages or so are taken up with an extensive section on Avoiding Problems which is worth a read on its own, both for its functional utility and for its practical and realistic appraisal of the specific issues of inventorship and priority regarding which the unique provisions of US law are apt to seem so puzzling to the rest-of-the-worldies who might be reading it.  The author also reminds readers that the appropriate time to address problems is before they happen -- a piece of advice that readers might do well to carry with them beyond the portals of patent law and into the great wide world that lurks beyond it.

Bibliographic data: Paperback, xxxvi + 477 pages. ISBNs 13: 9780199734924 and 10: 0199734925. Price: $225. Book's web page here.  Rupture factor: none.

* DON'T File a Patent! is a book of passion, enthusiasm and of an unquenchable determination to persuade the reader of the virtues of the author's case.  The author, John D. Smith of Orlando, Florida, is no admirer of the patent system.  He is witty, knowledgeable and quick to identify faults in the ponderous patchwork of bureaucratic and professional practices which is the US patent system today.  While the comments contained in this self-published book are directed at the US system, readers from other jurisdictions may easily recognise the applicability of the author's barbs to targets nearer home.


How does the author characterise his book?  He explains in his own words:

"DON’T File a Patent! is the first and only book that shows you why NOT to file a patent application on your invention. In this book, you will learn that the Patents Office wants the inventor’s money, not their invention. You will see the roadblocks the Patents Office uses to discourage inventors with their repeated Patent Office patent application rejections. These Patent Office patent application rejections require inventors to continually re-submit their patent application and pay thousands in additional government filing fees, before their patent application are ultimately turned down.

Inventors who create innovative intellectual property like patents, trademarks and copyrights are told by their patent attorney or patent lawyer that they should protect their intellectual property rights and secure patent protection by doing a patent search and then file a patent application and a trademark application.

In this book, I’ll give you over 10 reasons why you should NOT file a Patent Application on your invention. You’ll learn that Utility Patents and patent protection are worthless and does not stop someone from copying your invention. You’ll learn that a patent attorney or patent lawyer will encourage inventors to file patent infringement lawsuits for the patent attorney benefit, not
to benefit the inventor or his invention. You’ll learn that infringement lawsuits are very expensive and the only one that will make money in a patent infringement lawsuit will be your patent attorney. You’ll see that Judgments gained as a result of expensive patent infringement litigation are worthless, as they are impossible to collect. You’ll understand that if you are a successful inventor or inventors and you have a successful invention or inventions, you will get ripped off by copycat competitors, as this is a sign of your invention success.

In addition to the truth about the terrible way you’ll be treated by the Patent Office, I’ll also share with you many experiences I have had over the last five years. I’ll describe and give you contact information for several other inventors and entrepreneurs that got a trademark on their brand name and are making and selling their products themselves, as you should be doing. ..."

The author's weapons do not consist solely of rage and indignation. He is no stranger to humour, as "A day at the Patent Office with Elaine Patenthosen (No patent examiners were harmed in the making of this parody video)" testifies. A successful inventor in his own right (details here), his words go straight to the heart.  The approach which he advocates is, tytoc collie hastens to add, not one which is equally applicable to all inventions under all circumstances --  it may be particularly unsuitable for processes and for inventions that have no independent life of their own but are merely incremental add-ons to existing products.  However, for the one-patent-product scenario his advice makes a lot of sense and will be welcomed by small and some medium-sized enterprises which either can't afford patents at all or, if they get them, lack the financial and emotional resources to enforce them.


Bibliographic data: Book's website here. No risk of rupture, but don't read this if you're a patent attorney who is susceptible to apoplexy.  Price: US$ 24.95 plus packaging and posting which, as the author observes, "will cost you less than 10% of a 1 hour consultation with a patent attorney or patent lawyer" (available at the same price as an e-book).

* Terrell on the Law of Patents (17th Edition, 2011), is now edited by Richard Miller QC, Guy Burkill QC, His Honour Judge Birss QC and Douglas Campbell (all from Three New Square).  This book has been through the doldrums in its time, but successive editions since the 1970s have made it a much more useful book.  a tendency to paraphrase the relevant statute and then footnote the paraphrased provision has given way to some genuinely instructive guidance on the operation of the UK's Patents Act 1977 (as frequently amended), the most important decisions of the European Patent Office's variously-shaped Boards of Appeal and the indigenous judicial rulings and practice directions of the British courts and the UK Intellectual Property Office. 

It's difficult to introduce to readers a title which has been going since 1884 and which is familiar even to many folk who have never read it, so let's investigate the state of the current edition.  According to publishers Sweet & Maxwell, this edition has some new features:

"* Thoroughly revised and updated, with new or expanded discussion throughout of numerous current topics and recent developments in the law of patents;
* New chapters dedicated to Entitlement, to Supplementary Protection Certificates, and to the Person Skilled in the Art;
* Extensively expanded discussion of Validity issues, including major chapters now separately dedicated to Novelty, Obviousness, and Insufficiency:
* Incorporates discussion of all significant recent case law including the House of Lords decisions in Lundbeck v Generics and Conor v Angiotech, and the EPO Enlarged Board cases G2/08 and G3/08".

tytoc collie couldn't bring himself to read this tome from cover to cover -- and noone would believe him if he said he did.  Has however found himself doing some sampling while using Terrell for some recent research, and found it to be crisp, current and accurate in all material respects.  He can predict with confidence that, like its ever-improving competitor The Modern Law of Patents (here), this title will run and run.

Bibliographic data: Hardback, with more Latin and Arabic pagination than this Kat can wave a paw at. ISBN: 9781847039033. Price £325 (nb there is no missing decimal point in that figure, but local delivery is free).  Web page here. Rupture factor: severe.

Tech Transfer Times Two: a couple of book reviews

Competition Law, Technology Transfer and the TRIPS Agreement: Implications for Developing Countries is the title of a very good book by Tu Thanh Nguyen (Faculty of Law, Lund University, Sweden and Ho Chi Minh City School of Law, Vietnam).  A revised version of the author's 2009 doctoral thesis, it is a carefully thought-out document which reflects a maturity of approach towards an extremely difficult topic.

According to the publisher,

"The book investigates competition law and international technology transfer in the light of the TRIPS Agreement and the experience of both developed and developing countries. On that basis, it draws relevant implications for developing countries.

Tu Thanh Nguyen argues that technology transfer-related competition law should be ‘glocalized’ appropriately for the needs of local contexts, while intellectual property rights (IPR) are globalized [This is an interesting thesis; one can argue that the EU itself practises 'glocalization' of competition rules, particularly through the de jure structure and de facto operation of the Technology Transfer Block Exemption, while signing up for international Paris/Berne/TRIPS-driven IP norms -- but its significance is probably the subject for another book]. The book reveals that developing countries, according to the TRIPS Agreement, have the right to use domestic competition law to promote access to technology in order to protect national interests and consumer welfare. However, competition law is antitrust. It is neither anti-IPR nor anti-trade [If one takes a functional definition, based on what competition law does, rather than a conceptual one, this is a good debating point]. The author finds that developing countries with limited competition law resources should set realistic priorities for the control of technology transfer-related anti-competitive practices. They can reasonably apply and adapt relevant regulations, decisions and judgments from developed country jurisdictions to their own circumstances [The key here is identifying 'realistic priorities' and then being able to justify them when aspiration runs ahead of capability in the technology recipient country].

Competition Law, Technology Transfer and the TRIPs Agreement is a timely resource ['timely resource' means 'we got it out just in time for the students to buy it ...] for postgraduate students, practitioners, and scholars in international competition law, IPR, and technology transfer. Policymakers in the field of technology transfer-related competition law/policy, especially in developing countries, will also find this book invaluable".

Although the under-resourcing of IP granting facilities and enforcement mechanisms in developing countries has led to devices that minimise the inconvenience faced by IP owners in developed countries (eg the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Hague, Madrid, increasingly powerful border controls and the prospect of ACTA), the fact that developing countries have correspondingly limited competition law resources is not something that immediately springs to mind as a problem, and the author has been wise to touch on this issue.  Many developed countries have had the best part of a century or longer to experiment with the balance between IP and antitrust, but for most developing countries the luxury of time is not available and they are forced to choose between experimenting for themselves and extrapolating principles based on the experience of others. Whichever path they take, this book will help to guide them.  Historians too will find much of interest: here is an author who has not neglected the sad and largely forgotten experiment of the UNCTAD-supported ToT Code in the 1980s, which ran aground following a three-way split between the haves, the have-nots, and the have-somes of the Eastern European socialist bloc.


Bibliographic data.  Edward Elgar Publishing 2010.xv + 346 pages. Hardback. ISBN 978 1 84980 125 6. Price £85 (this comes down to £76.50 with the publisher's online discount). This book is also available as an ebook, ISBN 978 1 84980 544 5. Rupture factor: small. Web page here.

International Trade Policy for Technology Transfers: Legal and Economic Dilemmas on Multilateralism versus Bilateralism, by Yi Shin Tang, bears some similarities to that of Tu Thanh Nguyen.  It too has emerged from a doctoral thesis and its publisher, Kluwer Law International, shares with Edward Elgar Publishing an affection for titles in the "law meets economics meets trade policy" area.  Both authors have a good eye for the relevant point and a keen appreciation of the interests of the developing, as well as the developed, worlds.  But there the simlarities end.  As the publishers explain:

"The importance of international technology transfer for economic development can hardly be overstated. But the wide range of interests among developed and developing countries has long been the cause of enormous political obstacles to the conclusion of efficient international agreements dealing with technology transfers [Some might argue that, for some, more important than the actuality of international transfer of technology is its use as a 'bait' to encourage what is regarded as positive conduct on the part of prospective transferees].

This book provides a robust guideline to both policymakers and researchers wishing to identify and categorize the factors that influence the process of technology flows across national boundaries, as well as the economic theories and legal arguments that may support a given position in international forums. In particular, the work discusses how certain negotiation strategies may optimally deal with such barriers and lead to more effective institutional arrangements in the current global geography of technological development [there's a bit of game theory here, though this depends on negotiators wishing to take the optimal path ...].

The book features a strong balance between legal and economic theories, ranging from the analysis of judicial cases before the WTO Dispute Settlement System, to the manipulation of complex econometric methods and statistical tools. It covers and attempts to describe almost every relevant legal statute on the subject, thus providing an essential technical tool for decision makers and lawyers working in the field of international technology transfers, as well as to students. Furthermore, given the increasing worldwide attention to the negotiations taking place in the WTO, the book may serve as a valuable source of argumentation for both developed and developing countries in the yet unexplored relationship between foreign investments, technology licensing and international trade".

For this reader, who finds the legal end competition policy easier to grapple with than the economic basis for it, this was quite a challenging read.  It was however good to see an intelligent application of game theory in an analysis of cooperative behaviour -- since game theory is agnostic and can be equally well applied to any area of tech transfer in which decisions have to be made by players. But are the players the countries themselves or the owners of the technology itself?

Bibliographic data.  Published 2009, ISBNs 9041128255 and 13: 9789041128256.  P $172. Hardback, xvi + 232 pages. Web page here. This book is part of the publisher's Global Trade Law Series and you can  read a very full and positive account of it by Professor Thomas Dreier on JIPITEC here. Rupture factor: small.

Two paradoxes and a paradigm: a tale of three books

Neil Netanel's Copyright's Paradox was such a cool book title, and this was a book published by his very good friends at Oxford University Press, that tytoc collie confidently expected to receive a complimentary copy, if not an actual review copy.  That was back in 2008 and, while he has checked the mailbox from time to time for signs of inward-rushing paradoxes, the tempting tome still hasn't arrived.  He was really looking forward to discovering what that paradox was all about.  Surely it wasn't going to be something about copyright not being a right to copy ...

Anyway, the years have rolled by -- and two calendar years are equated with 24 cat years according to some knowledgeable folk -- and the Kat has had to resort to subterfuge in order to discover what the paradox is:

"Providing a vital economic incentive for much of society's music, art, and literature, copyright is widely considered "the engine of free expression"--but it is also used to stifle news reporting, political commentary, historical scholarship, and even artistic expression. In Copyright's Paradox, Neil Weinstock Netanel explores the tensions between copyright law and free speech, revealing the unacceptable burdens on expression that copyright can impose. Tracing the conflict across both traditional and digital media, Netanel examines the remix and copying culture at the heart of current controversies related to the Google Book Search litigation, YouTube and MySpace, hip-hop music, and digital sampling. The author juxtaposes the dramatic expansion of copyright holders' proprietary control against the individual's newly found ability to digitally cut, paste, edit, remix, and distribute sound recordings, movies, TV programs, graphics, and texts the world over. He tests whether, in light of these and other developments, copyright still serves as a vital engine of free expression and assesses how copyright does--and does not--burden free speech. Taking First Amendment values as his lodestar, Netanel offers a crucial, timely call to redefine the limits of copyright so it can most effectively promote robust debate and expressive diversity--and he presents a definitive blueprint for how this can be accomplished".

So now we know [Merpel's not convinced that this is really a paradox, any more than it's a paradox that the on-off button on his Katphone both turns the device on and off ...].  If you want to know more, you can still buy the book from OUP's website here. For bibliographic nerds who like to memorise ISBNs, here are a couple of crackers:  13:9780195137620 and 10:0195137620.  The book is available in hard and soft formats, at the very reasonable price of  $34.95.

The next paradox can be found in the title of Intellectual Property and Human Rights: a Paradox, edited by that distinguished gentleman Professor Willem Grosheide (Centre for Intellectual Property Law, Utrecht University, The Netherlands).  His team has a 'something old, something new' flavour to it as old favourites like Rochelle Cooper Dreyfuss, Jan Brinkhof, Chuck McManis and Martin J. Adelman rub metaphorical shoulders with names with whom this Kat was hitherto unfamiliar such as Madeleine de Cock Buning (who tackles that fertile ground for paradoxes, convergence in copyright), the confidently assertive Joost Smiers ("Is copyright fit for the 21st century? No!") and Lucky Belder.

What then does publisher Edward Elgar have to say about this title? Tantalisingly, it omits any mention of the "p" word, leaving it for the sentient and attentive reader to decide for him/herself:

"In the modern era where the rise of the knowledge economy is accompanied, if not facilitated, by an ever-expanding use of intellectual property rights, this timely book provides a much needed explanation to the relationship between intellectual property law and human rights law.

The contributors promote the view that this relationship should be central to the analysis of many of the profound problems that nation states and the international community encounter today, be they scientific, technological or cultural. The book is divided into sections covering the law and its trends, IP rights as human rights and human rights as restrictions to IP rights.

This stimulating book will appeal to academics, postgraduate students, national and international public authorities and those involved with international organizations in the fields of intellectual property law and human rights law".

If you want to play "spot the paradox" you can order the book from Edward Elgar's website here.  Helpful hint: the Kat's friends Charlotte Waelde and Abbe Brown actually say "paradox" in the title of their chapter.  Further bibliographical data: the book is published this year, it's a hardback and it has ix + 317 pages.  The ISBN is 978 1 84844 447 8 and, if you manage to buy it anywhere other than EE's website, it'll set you back £89.95 instead of the £80.96 which it costs with the publisher's discount.  This book is also available as an ebook (ISBN 978 1 84980 204 8).

That's enough of paradoxes.  Now for a paradigm: An Emerging Intellectual Property Paradigm: Perspectives from Canada, edited by another of tytoc collie's friends, Professor Ysolde Gendreau (Université de Montréal, Canada).  While this volume -- like Neil Netanel's -- was published in 2008, it must have taken a long time to reach the Kat. Paradigms are easier to comprehend than paradoxes, but sometimes less easy to recognise without someone else pointing them out to you [Merpel says this is because the existence of a paradox (like a parasol, parakeet or parachute) can be objectively verified while a paradigm (like a paragon) isn't identified as such until someone decrees it to be so].  Anyway, as the publishers say:

"In this book, reputed experts highlight the special features of Canadian intellectual property law. Situated at the crossroads [or dead-end, Merpel wonders] between legal traditions in Europe and the United States, Canada’s intellectual property laws blend various elements from these regions and offer innovative approaches. The chapters focus primarily on patents, trademarks, and copyright, covering both historical and contemporary developments. They are designed to bring perspective to and reflect upon what has become in recent years a very rich intellectual property environment.

Dealing with the characteristic features of Canadian intellectual property law, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers, and undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students of comparative and international intellectual property law, as well as those concerned with industrial property law and copyright law".

Says tytoc collie, whether it can be argued that Canada offers a paradigm for the dynamic fusion of legal cultures at a technological crisis point is a matter for debate.  But there is no debate as to the general health of legal scholarship, certainly in the field of intellectual property, in Canada. Professor Gendreau and her cadre of contributors have established that beyond all reasonable doubt.

You can order this book, with the publisher's discount, here.  That reduces your bill from £79.95 to £71.96. The book is xxv + 318 pages long, in both hardback (ISBN 978 1 84720 597 1) and ebook (ISBN 978 1 84844 502 4) formats.  The cover, unfortunately, only comes in pink, but publishers Edward Elgar presumably know a thing or two about their target market and it just wouldn't do in blue ...