Constructing Intellectual Property

by Alexandra George

Overview

What is “intellectual property”? This book examines the way in which this important area of law is constructed by the legal system. It argues that intellectual property is a body of rules, created by the legal system, that regulate the documented forms of abstract objects, which are also defined into existence by the legal system. Intellectual property law thus constructs its own objects of regulation, and it does so through the application of a collection of core concepts. By analyzing the metaphysical structure of intellectual property law and the concepts the legal system uses to construct “intellectual property,” the book sheds new light on the nature of this fascinating area of law. It explains anomalies between social and intellectual property uses of concepts such as authorship – here dubbed “creatorship” – and originality, and it helps to explain the role of intellectual property from a structural (rather than the traditional normative) perspective.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107014619
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/12/2012
Pages:	434
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dr Alexandra George joined the University of New South Wales Law Faculty in 2007, having had earlier academic appointments at Queen Mary, University of London, the University of Wales, Swansea and the University of Exeter in the UK. She has also worked at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy and at the University of Sydney, has practised as an intellectual property and media lawyer, was Associate to Justice M. F. Moore in the Federal Court of Australia and the Industrial Relations Court of Australia, and worked in journalism at Reuters. Dr George's research focuses on the philosophy of intellectual property law, particularly with respect to the notion of 'property' in intangible objects and the communicative effects of trade mark and copyright law. Her publications examine issues such as commodification and intellectual propertisation, the role of intellectual property in the globalisation process, hot issues in intellectual property (such as access to essential medicines, ownership of the genome, and bioprospecting/biopiracy), and practical problems of intellectual property enforcement.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. The difficulty of defining 'intellectual property'; 3. The metaphysics of intellectual property; 4. Intellectual property's core criteria; 5. 'Family resemblance' and intellectual property; 6. Concluding remarks.

Editorial Reviews

"Social scientists should find the book methodologically meticulous and appreciate that the author clearly explicates a formidable range of philosophical theory (rejecting a common tendency to exalt its cabalism). The examples are imaginative and varied, and her opening of the book with the fairy tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes primes the reader's will for analyzing IP as an institutional fact. The book is an excellent inquiry into the role of jurisprudential discourse in producing IP as a coherent institution that maintains and reproduces itself."
Julia Tomassetti, Sociologica

'Dr George’s analysis reveals that the term 'Intellectual Property' is a metonym for the cultural and societal rules and norms (including under-examined, even forgotten, assumptions) that foster and reward human innovation. Constructing Intellectual Property benefits from Dr George’s skilled, thoughtful, and clear approach to the subject. Theoreticians and practitioners alike can benefit from Dr George’s reexamination of the subject.' Alfred C. Frawley, The Trademark Reporter

From the Publisher