E-Book Overview
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.
• First detailed historical account of "IP" (the post-1911 book should be written in time)
• Two young scholars' widely respected in their joint presentation of these ideas /now written up
• Offers a number of important lessons for current debates in the area
E-Book Content
The Making of Modern Intellectual Property Law: The British Experience, 1760–1911 Brad Sherman and Lionel Bently
Cambridge University Press
The Making of Modern Intellectual Property Law The British Experience, 1760±1911 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 that have developed in recent years. 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. Drawing on extensive archival research, Sherman and Bently provide a detailed account of the emergence of modern British intellectual property law. In doing so they 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. Arguing against those who see intellectual property law as occupying its natural position or as being shaped by some higher philosophical principles, the work sets out to show the complex and contingent nature of this area of law. Secondly, as well as charting this emergence of intellectual property law as a discrete area of legal doctrine, the authors also set out to explain how it is that the law grants property status to intangibles and describe the ensuing problems. This work goes on to explore the rise and fall of creativity as an organising concept in intellectual property law, the creative nature of intellectual property law and the important role that the registration process plays in shaping intangible property. B r a d S h e r m a n , Law Department, Grif®th University, Brisbane L i o n e l B e n t l y, School of Law, King's College London
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Cambridge Studies in Intellectual Property Rights
As its economic potential has rapidly expanded, intellectual property has become a subject of front rank legal importance. Cambridge Studies in Intellectual Property Rights is a series of monograph studies of major current issues in intellectual property. Each volume will contain a mixture of international, European, comparative and national law, making this a highly signi®cant series for practitioners, judges and academic researchers in many countries. Series Editor Professor W. R. Cornish, University of Cambridge Advisory Editors Professor FrancËois Dessemontet, University of Lausanne Professor Paul Goldstein, Stanford University The Hon. Sir Robin Jacob, The High Court, England and Wales
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The Makin