The making of modern intellectual property law : the British experience, 1760-1911

One of the common themes in recent public debate has been the law's inability to accommodate the new ways of creating, distributing and replicating intellectual products. In this book the authors argue that in order to understand many of the problems currently confronting the law, it is necessary to understand its past. This is its first detailed historical account. In this book the authors explore two related themes. First, they explain why intellectual property law came to take its now familiar shape with sub-categories of patents, copyright, designs and trade marks. Secondly, the authors set out to explain how it is that the law grants property status to intangibles. In doing so they explore the rise and fall of creativity as an organising concept in intellectual property law, the mimetic nature of intellectual property law and the important role that the registration process plays in shaping intangible property. • First detailed historical account of "IP" (the post-1911 book should be written in time) • Two young scholars' widely respected in their joint presentation of these ideas /now written up • Offers a number of important lessons for current debates in the area This book is the first derailed historical account of intellectual property law. In part, it examines why intellectual property law with its subcategories of patents, copyright, designs and trade marks took the shape that it did over the course of the nineteenth century. In addition the authors deal with ways in which the law grants property status to intangibles and describe how the law came to create techniques that enabled it to recognize protectable intangibles, and the inescapable problems that have arisen from their use. This book is the first detailed historical account of intellectual property law. In part, it examines why intellectual property law with its subcategories of patents, copyright, designs and trade marks took the shape that it did over the course of the nineteenth century. In addition the authors deal with ways in which the law grants property status to intangibles and describe how the law came to create techniques that enabled it to recognize protectable intangibles, and the inescapable problems that have arisen from their use. Arguing that in order to understand the problems currently confronting the law, it is necessary to understand its past, this book explores two related themes. First, it explains why intellectual property law came to take its now familiar shape. Second, it explains how it is that the law grants property status to intangibles This book is the first detailed historical account of why intellectual property law with its sub-categories of patents, copyright, designs and trade marks took the shape that it did over the course of the nineteenth century. The authors also discuss ways in which the law grants property status to intangibles. Legal analysis, historical and political critique and biographical studies provide a history of international law This Book Explores The Shape That Intellectual Property Law Took Over The Course Of The Nineteenth Century.