KING OF THE WILD FRONTIER

IP at the frontiers

The IPKat has been reading with interest and enjoyment another Hart publication: New Frontiers of Intellectual Property Law, edited by Christopher Heath and Anselm Kamperman Sanders.

This book, arising from the collaboration between the IEEM in Macao and the Max Planck Institute in Munich, describes and explains developments in what is termed 'global intellectual property law and policy' (which rather suggests that there is such a single, describable phenomenon) and their impact on regional economic and cultural development.

According to the publisher's blurb the first two parts of the book broadly cover the protection of relative newcomers to the field of international intellectual property: cultural heritage and geographical indications. The third deals with issues of enforcement which have become a major point of interest since substantive intellectual property rules were put in place. Particular emphasis is given to enforcement systems in Asia and to the subject matter of criminal enforcement that in many parts of the world is considered an important tool of effective protection (The IPKat doubts that enforcement and criminality are new frontiers in any sense other than that, initially, they failed to attract the attention of academics, but they do so now). The final part of the book deals with the issue of multiple protection and overprotection, now a growing issue in IP law - and an issue on which academic input is not only welcomed but desperately needed, given the reluctance of any interested party to examine it objectively.

Of particular interest to the IPKat are

* the chapter on Maori culture and trade mark law by Earl Gray (Simpson Grierson, left), showing how existing (traditional?) concepts in trade mark law may assist in protecting the respect owed to Maori culture;

* Thomas Heide's (SJ Berwin) scholarly analysis of technological protection measures and

* Dieter Stauder (now blissfully retired from the European Patent Office) on a structure for the comparison of IP enforcement.

At 376 pages this book sounds long, but it is a small and tidy paperback which will fit into an overcoat pocket if you take your gloves out first. It costs just £45 and its ISBN is 1-84113-571-2.