Written by an intellectual property attorney who is also a programmer, Intellectual Property and Open Source helps you understand patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and licenses, with special focus on the issues surrounding open source development and the GPL.--from publisher description.

Ours is an era when human genes can be copied and patented. From genetically modified foods to digital piracy, the concept of intellectual property (IP) and the laws upholding it play a foundational role in our society, but its political and ideological dimensions have rarely been understood outside of specialist circles. This collection cuts through the legal jargon that so often surrounds IP, to provide both a comprehensive history and analysis that explores the corporate interests that shape its conception and the movements that are developing alternatives. As the nature of industry changes, we might ask: what are the wider implications of the concept of IP, be it for agribusiness and pharmaceutical companies or the film and music industries? Has IP law has been used to safeguard and assert the ownership of ideas and creativity, or is it an essential foundation of our culture? Today, with mounting challenges from the growth of free software and open source movements, this collection provides an accessible and alternative guide to IP, exploring its significance within the wider struggle between capital and the commons.

Open Sources 2.0 is a collection of insightful and thought-provoking essays from today's technology leaders that continues painting the evolutionary picture that developed in the 1999 book Open Sources: Voices from the Revolution . These essays explore open source's impact on the software industry and reveal how open source concepts are infiltrating other areas of commerce and society. The essays appeal to a broad audience: the software developer will find thoughtful reflections on practices and methodology from leading open source developers like Jeremy Allison and Ben Laurie, while the business executive will find analyses of business strategies from the likes of Sleepycat co-founder and CEO Michael Olson and Open Source Business Conference founder Matt Asay. From China, Europe, India, and Brazil we get essays that describe the developing world's efforts to join the technology forefront and use open source to take control of its high tech destiny. For anyone with a strong interest in technology trends, these essays are a must-read. The enduring significance of open source goes well beyond high technology, however. At the heart of the new paradigm is network-enabled distributed collaboration: the growing impact of this model on all forms of online collaboration is fundamentally challenging our modern notion of community. What does the future hold? Veteran open source commentators Tim O'Reilly and Doc Searls offer their perspectives, as do leading open source scholars Steven Weber and Sonali Shah. Andrew Hessel traces the migration of open source ideas from computer technology to biotechnology, and Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger and Slashdot co-founder Jeff Bates provide frontline views of functioning, flourishing online collaborative communities. The power of collaboration, enabled by the internet and open source software, is changing the world in ways we can only begin to imagine.Open Sources 2.0 further develops the evolutionary picture that emerged in the original Open Sources and expounds on the transformative open source philosophy. "This is a wonderful collection of thoughts and examples bygreat minds from the free software movement, and is a must have foranyone who follows free software development and project histories." --Robin Monks, Free Software Magazine The list of contributors include Alolita Sharma Andrew Hessel Ben Laurie Boon-Lock Yeo Bruno Souza Chris DiBona Danese Cooper Doc Searls Eugene Kim Gregorio Robles Ian Murdock Jeff Bates Jeremy Allison Jesus M. Gonzalez-Barahona Kim Polese Larry Sanger Louisa Liu Mark Stone Mark Stone Matthew N. Asay Michael Olson Mitchell Baker Pamela Jones Robert Adkins Russ Nelson Sonali K. Shah Stephen R. Walli Steven Weber Sunil Saxena Tim O'Reilly Wendy Seltzer

'Transactions involving intellectual property whether by way of out-and-out assignment or by one of the myriad variants of licensing which are possible, are really really important – they help the world of business go round. But such transactions can be complex with things like national rules preventing alienation getting in the way of bargains people wish to make. So it is quite astonishing how sparse the literature on the subject is – particularly literature taking a comparative view. This book is perhaps the very first of its kind, taking as it does perspectives from the major legal systems of the world. Moreover its distinguished authors have not written in a technical or abstruse way – as academics (and some judges) can all too easily do. Far from it. This book is readable – and anyone concerned with intellectual property licensing should read it and will find it a pleasure to do so. They will also learn a lot about some of the pitfalls and bear-traps to be found around the world. At UCL we have recognised the importance of this subject. This book will be on our students' reading list.' – The Rt. Hon. Sir Robin Jacob, UCL Faculty of Laws, UK 'IP licensing underpins the information economy. This impressive book brings together leading academic lawyers and practitioners from a range of key jurisdictions to explore a number of major current issues. The book is both thoughtful and practical and it is not afraid to call for greater harmonization of IP licensing law. It is a must have for all those involved in the field.' – Simon Stokes, Blake Lapthorn 'This Research Handbook provides a valuable mix of practical and theoretical perspectives on IP licensing and will serve as a reference resource for scholars and practitioners in this field of study.' – Francesco Parisi, University of Minnesota, US and University of Bologna, Italy 'The Handbook brings together a unique collection of world renowned experts providing detailed discussion in every chapter. The brilliance of this collective work is found in its broad two dimensional focus – beyond patents to all key IP assets on the one hand, and country specific discussion for key regions around the world on the other. . . Whether read cover-to-cover as a compilation of current best practice or used as a true reference guide, the Research Handbook on Intellectual Property Licensing is a must have for anyone seeking to capture value from intangible assets.' – From the foreword by James E. Malackowski The Research Handbook on Intellectual Property Licensing explores the complexities of intellectual property licensing law from a comparative perspective through the opinions of leading experts. This major research tool analyses the features of specific types of licensing agreements and also addresses other practical issues which apply across different types of licensing transactions, such as the treatment of licensing in bankruptcy and the use of arbitration for solving licensing disputes. The Handbook ultimately provides a scholarly contribution to the development of global intellectual property licensing policies. Including transversal and comparative analysis, this Handbook will appeal to intellectual property licensing practitioners, lawyers and intellectual property and contract law academics.

This book examines the effects of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), namely patents and copyrights, on innovation and technical change in information technologies. It provides new insights on the links between markets, technologies and legislation by applying a variety of empirical and analytical methods. The book also explores the success of the Open Source movement to establish an alternative regime for IPRs by illuminating the rationale behind it and illustrating how Open Source can strategically be used by firms.

The book examines the correlation between Intellectual Property Law – notably copyright – on the one hand and social and economic development on the other. The main focus of the initial overview is on historical, legal, economic and cultural aspects. Building on that, the work subsequently investigates how intellectual property systems have to be designed in order to foster social and economic growth in developing countries and puts forward theoretical and practical solutions that should be considered and implemented by policy makers, legal experts and the Word Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

This handbook of research is one of the few texts to combine Open Source Software (OSS) in public and private sector activities into a single reference source. It examines how the use of OSS affects practices in society, business, government, education, and law.

In recent years, Intellectual Property Rights - both in the form of patents and copyrights - have expanded in their coverage, the breadth and depth of protection, and the tightness of their enforcement. Moreover, for the first time in history, the IPR regime has become increasingly uniform at international level by means of the TRIPS agreement, irrespectively of the degrees of development of the various countries. This volume, first, addresses from different angles the effects of IPR on the processes of innovation and innovation diffusion in general, and with respect to developing countries in particular. Contrary to a widespread view, there is very little evidence that the rates of innovation increase with the tightness of IPR even in developed countries. Conversely, in many circumstances, tight IPR represents an obstacle to imitation and innovation diffusion in developing countries. What can policies do then? This is the second major theme of the book which offers several detailed discussions of possible policy measures even within the current TRIPS regime - including the exploitation of the waivers to IPR enforcement that it contains, various forms of development of 'technological commons', and non-patent rewards to innovators, such as prizes. Some drawbacks of the regimes, however, are unavoidable: hence the advocacy in many contributions to the book of deep reforms of the system in both developed and developing countries, including the non-patentability of scientific discoveries, the reduction of the depth and breadth of IPR patents, and the variability of the degrees of IPR protection according to the levels of a country's development.

Mrs.Dhanashri Devendra Dhokate, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Padmabhooshan Vasantraodada Patil Institute of Technology, Budhgaon, Sangli Maharashtra, India. Dr.Anushka Ashitosh Patil, Professor, Department of First Year Engineering, Padmabhooshan Vasantraodada Patil Institute of Technology, Budhgaon, Sangli Maharashtra, India. Dr.Tejas Balasaheb Kanase, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Botany, Government College of Agricultural, Karad, Maharashtra, India. Ch.L.N.Deepika, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, KL University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.