The assertion that a 'license' is simply a 'contract not to sue' has become a commonplace in both copyright and patent law. I argue that this notion is conceptually flawed, and has become a straightjacket channeling juristic reasoning into unproductive channels. At root, a license is not a...

Intellectual property systems all over the world are modeled on the one-size-fits-all principle. However important or unimportant, inventions and original works of authorship receive the same scope of protection, for the same period, backed by the same variety of legal remedies. Metaphorically...

This paper examines a number of government policies related to competition or intellectual property and affecting innovation for their welfare effects. Its premise is that the enhancement of social welfare is included among the purposes of competition and intellectual-property laws. It also...

In the United States, intellectual property (IP) law is intended to encourage the production of new creative works and inventions. Copyright and patent laws do this by providing qualifying authors and inventors with a bundle of exclusive rights relating to the use and development of their...

The various fields of intellectual property law (IPL) have massively developed or expanded and have attracted global attention. The development of commercial aspects of intellectual properties and consequent high rate of infringement led to the clamour for protection and recognition of...

The quest for technological leadership has caused the widespread use of intellectual property protection (IPP) as an instrument of national technology policies. Even the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) can be interpreted as an attempt to hinder the international...

Moral rights have had a wide recognition in Continental or Civil Law systems since they were adopted by Berne Convention. However, Common Law systems have resisted implementing completely moral rights into their legislation. This can be seen in the UK experience in which law makers and courts...

There is a common perception that digitisation has prompted changes in creative labour markets. In particular, it is widely assumed that exploiters insist on "grabbing rights" (i.e. broadly conceived assignments of rights), that visual artists are not able to negotiate, that they are paid less...

The process of harmonisation of copyright law in the European Union has been underway for more than twenty years. Substantial progress has been made, but some fundamental issues - moral rights, authorship and ownership, copyright contracts, levies for private copying, secondary liability and...

This article undertakes a comprehensive examination of sections 3-16 of the Digital Economy Act (DEA) 2010, a controversial British copyright enforcement measure that, if implemented, will trigger a species of 'graduated response' to online copyright infringement in the United Kingdom. The...