Examples & Explanations: Intellectual Property, Fourth Edition

Using proven Examples & Explanations pedagogy, this comprehensive study guide provides students with a short account of the law, followed by a variety of concrete examples and explanations that help reinforce and give substance to the key rules and concepts in intellectual property law. Its flexible organization lets students move freely between topics that range from copyrights, to patents, trademarks and trade secrets. Keyed to all major IP survey courses and using compelling examples, Intellectual Property: Examples & Explanations is a straightforward guide that gives students a solid grounding in this dynamic area of law.

The Fourth Edition has been substantially updated to include new case law, explanations and examples across a wide variety of intellectual property issues. Several new Supreme Court cases have been added to the section on patents; the copyright section now includes constitutional limits on the scope of copyright legislation and multiple cases on the boundaries of fair use and the extent of moral rights of artists; new material on limits on trademark protections, ISP liability and cybersquatting are included in the section on trademarks; and new issues defining trade secrets in the Internet Age round out the Fourth Edition.

Hallmark features:

• Complete coverage of core topics in intellectual property
• Keyed to the major IP survey casebooks, with enough examples to reinforce any gaps in the text coverage.
• Proven Examples & Explanations pedagogy helps reinforce key rules and concepts.
• Focuses on the fundamentals, concentrating on basic rules and concepts and avoiding more sophisticated, specialized topics.
• Flexible organization adapts to any course structure and allows students to work independently, brushing up on specific topics as needed.

The Fourth Edition has been substantially updated with the following new material:

• Copyright:
  • Constitutional limits on the scope of copyright legislation.
  • Extent of moral rights of artists.
  • Multiple cases on the boundaries of fair use; licensing issues; work made for hire in the startup company context; rights of buyers of copyrighted products and services, limits on digital rights management systems.
• New Patent law:
  • Several Supreme Court cases, including patentability of business methods, software, and genes; ownership of university inventions; standards for invalidating patents; standard for secondary liability.
  • Other cases on liability for inaccurately marking a product as patented and scope of patent protection for biotech inventions.
  • Coverage of 2011 revision of patent statute by America Invents Act
• Trademark:
  • Limits on trademark protection for functional items.
  • ISP liability for customers' trademark infringement.
  • Cybersquatting.
• Trade secret:
  • Cases on trade secret infringement among competitors.
  • Intersection between computer fraud and trade secret protection.
  • Cases on limits on what information qualifies as a trade secret, such as product concepts and databases.