For your delectation -- two new titles

Intellectual Property: From Creation to Commercialisation - A Practical Guide for Innovators & Researchers is the debut IP law book by John P Mc Manus, all the way from Ireland, the publisher being Oak Tree Press.  John's background is impressive. A scientist by training, he has held posts with Enterprise Ireland and NovaUCD. Group IP Manager for nanotechnology firm NTERA, he has also acquired extensive presentation experience, via training workshops for the European Patent Office's European Patent Academy.  So what is this book all about?  The publisher's web blurb explains:

"For many knowledge-intensive or technology-based start-up companies, the professional management of intellectual property (IP) is critically important. In fact, IP may be the main asset by which the value of a young company is determined and on which decisions to invest in the company are based – and so IP needs to be considered very early in the planning process.

Intellectual Property: From Creation to Commercialisation provides a detailed grounding for innovators and researchers [and not for lawyers -- this accounts for the absence of accumulated legal data in the form of footnoted references to learned articles clinging like barnacles to the foot of each page, daunting case lists, statutes etc, as well as the presence of some welcome clear, direct prose]. The book starts with the source of innovation – that is, at the point where resourcefulness and creativity combine to develop new opportunities through problem-solving – and examines the critical steps that need to be carefully managed in the process surrounding the creation of IP and managing its development from concept through to exploitation. This involves the steps of identifying, capturing and assessing the value of IP. Useful recommendations for managing the transfer of IP from a research environment to the knowledge economy are provided and case studies illustrate pitfalls to watch out for.

Readers can expect to gain a broad understanding of IP and the innovation process. 

Specifically, they will learn:

* The benefits of implementing procedures to ensure that IP can be protected, managed and exploited effectively.

* How to assess the most appropriate routes to market, such as licensing or sale of their IP, or establishing a spin-out company to deliver a service or product offering.

* How to present a viable business case to potential funders and investors".

As one might expect, while the words "Intellectual Property" feature in the title, some types of IP are very much more central to its core than are others: patents and ancillary means of protecting the fruits of organised scientific research are very much more the concern of innovators and researchers than are rights in trade marks and many forms of copyright, and this is reflected in the author's guidance to his intended readership. This guidance, incidentally, spans not merely the period from the IP's conception to its birth: it runs a long way both ahead of and after that period, taking in areas such as due diligence, project management and IP valuation which are more the province of the men in grey suits than those who in white lab-coats. Oh, and there's also a useful three-page table listing acronyms and initials that the reader is likely to encounter both in reading this handy book and, if his innovation is worth exploiting, in the real world thereafter.

Bibliographic data: ISBN 9781781190241. Hardback xvi + 314 pp (web page here) at 65 euro. Also available as an e-book here at 30.74 euro. Rupture factor: small.

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The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Intellectual Property is a handy student introduction to the subject which will be particularly appreciated by those students who do not intend to study the subject but want to know what they're missing, and possibly also for those who are agonising over which topics to choose and need a bit of expert guidance as to what the subject does, and does not, cover. The author, Dan Hunter, is Professor of Law at New York Law School and an expert in internet law, intellectual property, and artificial intelligence and cognitive science models of law. He endears himself to the IPKat by having a place in the blogosphere, being a co-founder of the scholarly Terra Nova blog. Now, what do the publishers have to say about this slender book? According to its web-blurb:

"In The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Intellectual Property, prominent intellectual property scholar Daniel Hunter provides a precise, engaging overview and careful analysis of current laws of intellectual property and their history. Hunter first focuses on the central areas of intellectual property law, including copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secrets. He then moves beyond the basics, exploring the politics, economics, psychology and rhetoric of possession and control that influence and interact with this area of law.

Hunter explains how intellectual property has contributed greatly to the innovations that we, as a society, need in our modern lives. He also describes ways in which the expansion of intellectual property can reduce innovation by stopping others from implementing great ideas or producing new work. Hunter helps readers think about modern intellectual property in a way that allows them to see how innovation and progress are linked to intellectual property law, and how small changes in the laws have had significant consequences for our society. Ultimately, Hunter helps readers form their own views about the various areas within the arena of intellectual property [Merpel is amused by this bit about helping readers form their own views. It seems to her that one of the biggest problems faced by IP writers is getting readers to put their views aside for long enough to reflect on other people's]".

In short -- and one can really write "in short" here, since this is genuinely a short introduction to a vast subejct -- this is a fun book. It's stimulating, informative and harbours some big ideas. It's also a useful read for Europeans and other non-USans who occasionally need reminding that, while superficially IP rights work much the same in most jurisdictions, the US is another world, and a very important one at that.

Bibliographical data: ISBN 978-0-19-534060-0.Paperback: xiii + 242pp. Rupture factor: none. Web page here