Edward Elgar Publishing The Law and Economics of Antitrust and Intellectual Property: An Austrian Approach

This book examines some of the intriguing notions of the complex antitrust-intellectual property interface, focusing primarily on property and dynamic economic doctrines. The extensive discussion addresses antitrust patterns of unilateral behaviour and the intellectual property (IP) institutions of patents and copyright. The author provides a comprehensive evaluation of the intricacies of antitrust and IP from a broad legal, philosophical and economic perspective. In the economic context she considers the Chicago and Austrian schools of market theory, whilst on the legal and philosophical level she explores antitrust and IP doctrines through the lenses of property, philosophy of rights and history. In this way the reader gains a deeper understanding of the antitrust and IP crossroads, an area that is growing in importance as information plays an ever-increasing role in today's markets. This book provides an original theoretical appraisal of the complex issues that arise when antitrust and IP considerations seem to be at odds with one another. It offers an interesting and viable alternative to the Chicago school of antitrust, and makes a significant practical contribution to the Austrian school of economics. Lawyers, industrial economists and academics working on IP, antitrust and competition will all find this to be an informative and highly rewarding volume. It will also be a good source of reference for anyone interested in the philosophy of property rights.