Evolution of Modern Intellectual Property Law - The British Journey from 1760 to 1911

Author: (Austrian) Sherman / (British) Bentley / Jin Haijun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: In recent years, a common theme in public debate has been that the law fails to adapt to the new methods of creating, disseminating, and replicating knowledge products that have emerged in recent years. The authors of this book argue that to understand many of the challenges the law currently faces, it is necessary to understand its past. Sherman and Bentley, through extensive archival research, provide a detailed explanation of the formation of modern British intellectual property law. In this process, they explore two related themes. , they explain why intellectual property law has taken the form familiar to people today, with subcategories such as patents, copyrights, industrial designs, and trademarks. By refuting the view that intellectual property law is naturally formed or shaped by some higher philosophical principle, the book seeks to demonstrate the complexity and contingency of this legal field. Second, the authors portray the emerging intellectual property law as an independent legal field, while also attempting to explain how the law grants intangible property with the status of tangible property and the difficulties that arise from this. The book further explores the rise and fall of creativity as an organizational concept in intellectual property law, the creative characteristics of intellectual property law, and the important role of registration procedures in the formation of intangible property.