Description: As knowledge production has become a more salient part of the economy, intellectual property laws have expanded. From a backwater of specialists in patent, copyright, and trademark law, intellectual property has become linked to trade through successive international agreements, and appreciated as key to both economic and cultural development. Furthermore, law has begun to engage the interest of economists, political theorists, and human rights advocates. However, because each discipline sees intellectual property in its own way, legal scholarship and practice have diverged, and the debate over intellectual property law has become fragmented. This book is aimed at bringing this diverse scholarship and practice together. It examines intellectual property through successive lenses (incentive theory, trade, development, culture, and human rights) and ends with a discussion of whether and how these fragmented views can be reconciled and integrated.
Brief description: Rochelle Cooper Dreyfuss is the Pauline Newman Professor of Law at New York University School of Law and co-Director of its Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy. She is a member of the American Law Institute and was a co-Reporter for its Project on Intellectual Property: Principles Governing Jurisdiction, Choice of Law, and Judgments in Transnational Disputes. She was a consultant to the Federal Courts Study Committee, to the Presidential Commission on Catastrophic Nuclear Accidents, and to the Federal Trade Commission, and has served on the Secretary of Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society.
Review Quotes: 'In this book, a first-rate group of experts provide a sophisticated and candid analysis of the advantages and limitations of various justifications for intellectual property protection, including incentive-based theory, facilitating trade among nations, and protecting public health, culture, and human rights. The book also contains a valuable discussion of empirical studies and doctrinal and institutional reforms. It is essential reading for anyone interested in improving intellectual property laws in our global marketplace.' Lisa P. Ramsey, University of San Diego School of Law