IP at the crossroads of trade: A survey of contemporary issues?

Abstract

‘A book may be good for nothing; or there may be only one thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through?’ (Samuel Johnson) This section is dedicated to the review of ideas, articles, books, films and other media. It will include replies (and rejoinders) to articles, the evaluation of new ideas or proposals, and reviews of books and articles both directly and indirectly related to intellectual property law. The relationship between intellectual property rights and trade is a complex one, and relies on co-operation and clear enforcement options. It is also a relationship which requires that some attention be paid to competition law,1 which is far from straightforward when dealing with challenging technological developments which threaten the basis of intellectual property. The recent developments in both technologies and the freely available instantaneous methods of reproducing works, such as peer-to-peer networks (eg the Pirate Bay or MegaUpload), and the legal responses to these developments (eg the Digital Economy Act 2010) highlight the changing dynamics of the relationship between technology, trade and IP rights. Great many of these changes relate to the issues of enforcement and to the way property rights are managed, especially in networked environments that have little regard to territorial boundaries.2