Intellectual Property and the Common Law

Leading scholars of intellectual property and information policy examine what the common law can contribute to discussions about intellectual property's scope, structure and function.

Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary ideas and principles that are embedded within the working of common law, this volume shows that the answers to many of modern intellectual property law's most puzzling questions may be found in the wisdom, versatility and adaptability of the common law.In this volume, leading scholars of intellectual property and information policy examine what the common law - a method of reasoning, an approach to rule making, and a body of substantive law - can contribute to discussions about the scope, structure and function of intellectual property. The book presents an array of methodologies, substantive areas and normative positions, tying these concepts together by looking to the common law for guidance. Drawing on interdisciplinary ideas and principles that are embedded within the working of common law, it shows that the answers to many of modern intellectual property law's most puzzling questions may be found in the wisdom, versatility and adaptability of the common law. The book argues that despite the degree of interdisciplinary specialization in the field, intellectual property is fundamentally a creation of the law; therefore, the basic building blocks of the law can shed important light on what intellectual property can and should (and was perhaps meant to) be.