The geographical scope of ...

From the Americas to the European Union, Asia-Pacific and Africa, countries around the world are facing increased pressure to clarify the application of intellectual property exhaustion. This wide-ranging Research Handbook explores the questions that pose themselves as a result. Should exhaustion apply at the national, regional, or international level? Should parallel imports be considered lawful imports? Should copyright, patent, and trademark laws follow the same regime? Should countries attempt to harmonize their approaches? To what extent should living matters and self-replicating technologies be subject to the principle of exhaustion? To what extent have the rise of digital goods and the “Internet of things” redefined the concept of exhaustion in cyberspace? The Handbook offers insights to the challenges surrounding these questions and highlights how one answer does not fit all.

This is an open access book. Media industry research and EU policymaking are predominantly tailored to large (and, in the latter case, Western) European markets. This open access book addresses the specific qualities of smaller media markets, highlighting their vulnerability to global digital competition and outlining survival strategies for them. New online distribution models and new trends in the consumption of audiovisual content are limited by, and pose new challenges for, existing audiovisual business models and their legal framework in the EU. The European Commission’s Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy, which was intended e.g. to remove obstacles to the cross-border distribution of audiovisual content, has triggered a heated debate on the transformation of the existing ecosystem for European screen industries. While most current discussions focus on the United States, Western Europe, and the multinational giants, this book approaches these industry trends and policy questions from the perspective of relatively small and peripheral (in terms of their population, language, cross-border cultural flows, and financial and/or symbolic capital) media markets.

The European concern with copyright and related rights -- Object, subject, and duration of protection -- Exclusive rights and limitations -- Rights management information and technological protection measures -- Term extension for sound recordings -- Term calculation for co-written musical works -- Orphan works -- The blessings and curses of harmonization -- The last frontier : territoriality.

This book provides background on intellectual property rights (IPR) and discusses the role of U.S. international trade policy in enhancing IPR protection and enforcement abroad. IPR are legal rights granted by governments to encourage innovation or works and they may take the form of patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, or geographical indications. U.S. industries that rely on IPR contribute significantly to U.S. economic growth, employment, and trade with other countries. Counterfeiting and piracy in other countries may result in the loss of billions of dollars of revenue for U.S. firms as well as the loss of jobs.

The principle of territoriality of IP rights has been subject to much criticism recently. It is often argued that the territoriality principle does no longer fit to the needs of cross-border exploitation of intellectual property products. Therefore, in order to facilitate international trade, increasing support is given in favour of extraterritoriality. This article introduces the debate concerning the territoriality principle and presents two recent cases decided by the Japanese Supreme Court where the territoriality principle was at stake. Based on this analysis, it is argued that the territoriality principle should not be phrased as “either-or” question; instead it is submitted that one should view territoriality in a broader institutional perspective. Namely, Japanese cases support the idea that territoriality principle forms the basis of modern intellectual property regime and functions in consonance with other rules (choice of law rules, rules harmonising particular aspects of intellectual property or rules which could extend to possible extra-territorial situations).

This significantly revised and updated second edition addresses the rapid development of EU copyright law in relation to the advancement of new technologies, the need for a borderless digital market and the considerable number of EU legal instruments enacted as a result. Taking a comparative approach, the Commentary provides comprehensive coverage and in-depth commentary on each of the EU legal instruments and policies, both from an EU and an international perspective. Alongside full legislative analysis and article-by-article commentary, the Commentary illustrates the underlying basic principles of free movement and non-discrimination and provides insights into the influence of copyright on other areas of EU policy, including telecoms and bilateral trade agreements.

The contributors explore how the rise of international trade and globalization has changed the way trademark law functions in a number of important areas, including protection of well-known marks, parallel imports, enforcement of trademark rights again

Intellectual property law has been harmonized by EU law to a considerable extent. At the same time intellectual property rights have converged. The academic discussion has not kept pace with this development. European intellectual property law is often seen through the spectacles of national law; pan-European discussions about issues of Community law seem to be the exception rather than the rule. The contributors to this volume investigate if and to what extent European rules and principles applicable to all intellectual property rights already exist or whether they can be found on the basis of the acquis communautaire and comparative law. In particular, they discuss the merits and the methodology of common principles before turning to several areas of substantive intellectual property law such as grounds of protection, secondary liability and exceptions, to enforcement and finally to the relationship between intellectual property and neighbouring areas of EU law.

In General Principles for Business and Human Rights in International Law Ludovica Chiussi Curzi offers a critical analysis of the relevance of general principles of law in the multifaceted business and human rights field.