The digital public domain: relevance and regulation

After clarifying the notion and different areas of the (digital) ‘public domain’, the paper engages in discussing literature on its relevance for society, in general, and economic innovation, in particular. The effectiveness of the utilization of these abstract potentials, however, depends on the respective public domain regulation. In this context, the paper distinguishes different regulatory modes and arenas in both copyright and patent law, thereby focusing private regulatory initiatives, such as Creative Commons or Biological Open Source. In the last section, the paper presents open research questions and makes some preliminary suggestions for potential research strategies.     

人工智能知识产权问题综述

自20世纪50年代以来,人工智能引领着各行各业发展的风向,在人工智能技术助力各领域发展的同时,制度设计如何在最大程度上反哺技术和经济的发展成为至关重要的问题。不断推动人工智能技术的创新,不仅要重视人工智能技术本身的保护问题,人工智能生成物的保护也不容忽视。本文收集了国内外相关案例,从学理与司法实践的角度分析人工智能知识产权保护的必要性与可行性,以期通过人工智能知识产权保护推动我国技术进步与法律完善齐头并进。     

Originality requirement and copyright regime of music: a comparative overview of Indian perspective

The quest of originality and not of imitation has always been the most important element in musical composition. In law, originality has become an important legal doctrine where creativity and innovation have been protected as copyrightable works. Some countries grant copyright protection based on how much labour and diligence it took to create a work, rather than how original a work is. This is referred to as the ‘sweat of the brow’ doctrine. This doctrine has been recognized at various time in many countries such as USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and elsewhere. In India, the copyright statute has been in existence since long and moreover India is a member of various international intellectual property treaties and conventions, but the situation continues to be pathetic. The lack of protection allows high-profile music directors and domestic musicians in India to get away with copyright infringement. In what sense does a literary work need to be ‘original’ protected by copyright in India? Is the law of originality in a satisfactory state? How, if at all, might it be improved? This paper will examine the Indian position on the concept of ‘originality’ in the law of copyright, determine whether this law is satisfactory and make suggestions for improvement if necessary.     

A critical evaluation of government-sponsored reviews of intellectual property in Australia

Constant changes to the Australian intellectual property (IP) system undertaken in the three decades since the 1970s have been accompanied by a proliferation of legislation and intermittent reviews. The staggering volume of such activities has generated debate as to whether such an approach should be allowed to continue in light of Australia's determination to forge ahead in knowledge creation and management that the information era demands. This article investigates the propriety and consistency of the reviews conducted, the respective recommendations made, and the underlying perspectives, if any, for IP lawmaking and implementation in Australia in the past or, indeed, for the future.     

Territorial targeting in EU private law

In a series of rulings given in the last few years, the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) has made use of the concept of targeting by a trader of a particular territorial market as a device for determining the scope of European legislation on private law. The concept is of particular importance in the context of trading activities conducted by means of the Internet, though its significance is not confined to such activities. In particular, the European Court has used the concept of targeting for the purpose of restricting the substantive ambit of intellectual property rights created or harmonised by EU legislation. On the other hand, it has avoided use of the concept of targeting in the context of EU legislation allocating jurisdiction between the courts of the Member States, even in respect of disputes involving intellectual property, except where a legislative text specifically invokes such a concept. The instant paper endeavours to review the position as currently established by the European case-law, and to predict the likely further developments.     

A critical review of proprietary software protection

The purpose of this paper is to delineate primarily the present state of U.S. patents, copyright and trade secrets to the area of computer software. These three areas were chosen because the protection afforded by them is the greatest and because the application of these laws is pretty much unique as applied to software. A brief mention will be given to the law of contracts (contractual agreements), but an analysis of this area is not required because the application of the law of contracts to software is not unique. The paper ends with a brief look at the Doctrine of Unfair Competition, ethical considerations and finally presenting various proposals that have been made to help rectify the problem of proprietary software protection.