Edward Elgar Publishing The Moral Dimensions of Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual Property Rights are subject to a high degree of protection, exploitation and litigation in the modern commercial environment. But what role does morality have to play in these exchanges? That is the question posed and eloquently examined within the contours of this book. Steven Ang builds his idea that the justification for IPRs is bound up with a simultaneous duty to share part of that intellectual resource through public rights of access and a public domain which is facilitated by the moral elements in the various dimensions of IPR. In a globalized world with globalizing IPRs where culturally assumed norms must be re-examined, this work has an urgent and important contribution to make. Taking the main features of internationally mandated IPRs as a starting point it explores the moral commitments they imply and rely on, to identify a framework for further development and reform of IP regimes. The Moral Dimensions of Intellectual Property Rights will strongly appeal to researchers and academics in intellectual property, jurisprudence, policy makers concerned with IP rights, as well as general readers with a concern for the extent, growth and reform of IP rights. Contents: Preface 1. The Idea of the Moral Dimensions of IPRs 2. Moral Terms, Moral Meaning and Morality 3. The Moral Dimension of Justification 4. The Dimension of Design: National Systems 5. International IP Laws and the Moral Dimension of Design 6. The Moral Dimensions of Law: Interpretation and Aims 7. The Moral Dimensions of the Exercise of IPRs 8. The Moral Dimension of Reform of IPRs 9. Conclusions on the Moral Dimensions of IPRs Bibliography Index