Intellectual Property and the Net

The book provides an up-to-date analysis and assessment of the prevailing intellectual property law and its application in the use of the Internet, both in the Indian and international scenarios. The task is envious besides complicated, as the archaic law has to be associated with the ever advancing technology.

The book is intended to be for legal professionals. The first chapter deals with the role of the Internet in the development, management and commercialization of intellectual property, highlighting the beneficial and detrimental impact of the Internet on intellectual property. The second chapter focuses on the new digital phenomena ‘electronics commerce’ by providing a definition to the term and also background on its scope and growth. It also familiarizes with certain legal issues in relation to cyberspace. Chapter three provides an introduction to a series of issues such as electronics contracts, jurisdiction and applicable law, and enforcement. Chapters five to nine address the impact of electronic commerce on intellectual property, namely, copyright and related rights, patents and trademarks and unfair competition, as well as some of the responses that have developed to date, including domain names and their relationship to trademarks. Chapter 10 examines the issues as they relate to developing countries, such as the disparities in infrastructure development, the different levels of awareness and the resulting differential levels of participation in electronic commerce and the ability to benefit from intellectual property. It also discusses the opportunity that awaits those developing countries that undertake to facilitate the development of electronic commerce for their constituents and highlights WIPO’s initiatives in this regard. Chapter 11 discusses progress being made towards the electronic delivery of intellectual property services by WIPO, focussing in particular on the implementation of the WIPONET and other systems being developed for administration and delivery of WIPO’s services. While these activities may not be considered electronic commerce per se, similar conceptual approaches and technical systems are being used to bring networked access to intellectual property services. Chapter 12 analyzes the WIPO digital agenda, set of guidelines and goals first outlined by the Director-General of WIPO at the International Conference of Electronic Commerce and Intellectual Property in September 1999, and which subsequently received the approval of WIPO’s members states at their annual assemblies.

The book will, by and large, meet the requirements of lawyers specializing in IPR laws and cyber law. It covers over one hundred and fifty factual case study scenarios to demonstrate the main legal issues discussed. Since there is still a dearth of case law in this area, the case studies are a welcome feature. It would have been an added benefit had the author given a table of cases cited in the book for a quick referral. 

However, this would be a difficult book to use without a background knowledge of the relevant legal or technological concepts, given that the uninitiated reader may be tempted to assume that an answer to a problem may be found under a specific heading in a single chapter. Although the author provides an introduction to Internet technology and a glossary of commonly used terms, this book in not in any sense an introductory guide to the Internet for lawyers. Correspondingly, it is not an easy-to-read guide to the law for information technology professionals and the author, in fact, recognizes this by referring the reader at certain points in the text to specialist legal volumes.

This book would make a good addition to a legal practitioner’s library.