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  3. The Making of Modern Intellectual Property Law
  • Cited by 55
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      29 May 2025
      08 July 1999
      ISBN:
      9781009712644
      9780521563635
      9780521057134
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009712644
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.524kg, 264 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.41kg, 264 Pages
      • Series:
      Cambridge Intellectual Property and Information Law
      Subjects:
      Intellectual Property, Law, International Trade Law
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    Series:
    Cambridge Intellectual Property and Information Law
    Subjects:
    Intellectual Property, Law, International Trade Law
    Information

    Book 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

    ‘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.’

    Source: 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.’

    Source: Media & Arts Law Review

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