Aplin and Davis: a worthy purchase

In the olden days when he was but a little kitten, the IPKat never had much use for Case Books. For the most part, they struck him as an excuse for not reading cases as reported in the Law Reports. Also, for some reason that he could never fathom, the case books on his undergraduate reading lists were never the ones that were designed for use with the recommended textbooks. The sole exception was the first edition of Tony Weir's Casebook on Tort, an edgy, querulous compendium of questions, observations and literary allusions which was not so much in-your-face as up-your-nose.

Nowadays, the compilation of Case Books has been elevated to an art-form, as their authors -- starting from the point of view of what the intellectually curious student needs rather than what the author wants to say or, sometimes sadly, what the publisher thinks it can sell -- provide something approaching a one-stop-shop for the diligent and thoughtful reader. Intellectual Property Law: Text, Cases, and Materials by Tanya Aplin and Jennifer Davis is one such book. According to the web-blurb from publishers Oxford University Press:

"* Focusing on domestic intellectual property law, while placing it firmly in its international context allows students to gain a broad and thorough understanding of IP as a global subject;

* Combines well-chosen excerpts from case law and secondary materials with stimulating commentary;

* Carefully written and developed to map closely onto intellectual property law courses;
* Provides a selection of relevant further reading;
* Supported by a specially designed Online Resource Centre which provides updates of recent developments in the law and links to relevant websites;
* This book provides a complete resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students of intellectual property law. It is designed to be the first of its kind, in combining extracts from major cases and secondary materials with critical commentary from experienced teachers in the field".

Fortunately for the book's intended users, the text is rather less telegraphic -- and it really delivers on its promises. The intelligent use of extracts of articles, books and other secondary materials not only provides an effective functional framework within which to portray the primary materials, but also helps the reader get a taste of the sheer internationality of IP law and its place next to adjacent streams of economic and philosophical thought. The spread of topics is generous too: subjects such as remedies, which examiners are sometimes reluctant to examine, are given their rightful space.

In short, this is not only the book the IPKat would have liked to have had as a student; it's the book he would have been proud to write, if the time, opportunity, energy and inspiration had conspired to combine.

Bibliographic information: xlviii + 861 pages. ISBN 978-0-19-927157-3. Paperback,

Price: £37.99. Updates here; weblinks here; book's web page here. Rupture factor: substantial.