BOOK REVIEW SPECIAL: THREE BOOKS

Economic Approaches to Intellectual Property Policy, Litigation, and Management

The IPKat received a surprise copy of Economic Approaches to Intellectual Property Policy, Litigation, and Management towards the end of last year, but has finally got round to taking a look at it. Co-edited by Dr. Gregory K. Leonard and Dr. Lauren J. Stiroh, it is published by Nera (originally National Economic Research Associates). According to the publisher's promotional material,

"Over the past century, the value and importance of intellectual property has grown rapidly worldwide. While it is crucial for companies to successfully manage their intangible assets, they face difficult questions in attempting to navigate the complex business and legal environment that surrounds IP rights.

Economic Approaches ... is an anthology of 23 articles by economists associated with NERA. The chapters explore topics ranging from the valuation of IP damages to intellectual property rights protection in China and the antitrust implications of standard setting and patent pools. [...] The book addresses such key questions as:

* How should the owner of IP rights be compensated when those rights are violated?
* What role should antitrust and competition policy play in intellectual property matters?

* How can companies more accurately assess their R&D investments and strategies?
* Should emerging economic powers implement and enforce more stringent intellectual property rights?"

The IPKat notes that one of the contributors is Thomas R. McCarthy. This gentleman, clearly an authority in his own field, is not the same person as iconic IP trade mark scholar J. Thomas McCarthy (with whom the Kat briefly confused him).


Please Be Ad-Vised

Another unsolicited addition to the IPKat's incoming mail was the 4th Edition of Please Be Ad-Vised, by Douglas J. Wood and published by the (American) Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in 2004. This attractively producted volume, which is available to ANA members at a discounted price, was published in 2004 but still has plenty of currency. The publisher's literature states:

Most advertising and marketing executives cannot claim a mastery of advertising and marketing law; yet it is an area we deal in almost every day. Please Be Ad-Vised is considered the industry's legal reference guide for advertising and marketing professionals. It is a comprehensive and practical tool for avoiding legal blunders. In addition to summaries of dozens of legal issues, the book provides sample legal forms for everything from ownership and protection of creative work to agency-client relationships.

Please Be Ad-Vised is divided into two sections: (i) The Creative Side of Advertising and (ii) The Business Side of Advertising. This edition also includes a disk with over 20 contracts discussed in the book, covering everything from advertiser/agency contracts to website development agreements and television production contracts.


China IP Law Guide

Published late last year by CCH (a division of Wolters Kluwer), but available from the same publishing group's Aspen website, the China IP Law Guide is actually pretty good, the IPKat thinks. According to the publisher,

"Written in the context of China s new intellectual property laws after WTO entry, this unique law-and-commentary guide examines the legal framework for intellectual property protection and its practical implications in the commercial world. Written for multinationals with operations in China, the book addresses the commercial realities of protecting and managing intellectual property and the practical application of Chinese intellectual property laws to business, e.g., assessing risk liabilities for all parties in the supply chain, from manufacturers to retailers, to marketing firms and importers".

This title forms part of the Asia Business Law Series, which is published in cooperation with CCH Asia. The aim of the series is to provide updated and reliable practical guidelines, legislation and case law, in order to help practitioners, policy makers and scholars understand how business is conducted in the rapidly growing Asian market.