Intellectual Property Law: Text, Cases and Materials

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Authors: Tanya Aplin & Jennifer Davis

Price: £37.99

Edition: 1st Edition (July 2009)

ISBN: 978-0-19-927157-3

Buy from OUP: Click Here

Whilst there are a number of excellent intellectual property textbooks, there are fewer text, cases and materials books.  New into the market comes Tanya Aplin and Jennifer Davis' Intellectual Property Law: Text, Cases and Materials.  To my mind, this is a very welcome addition.

Written by two experienced academics who specialise in intellectual property law, Intellectual Property Law: Text, Cases and Materials is split into thirteen chapters: an introduction to intellectual property; copyright I: subsistence, ownership and exploitation; copyright II: infringement and exceptions; passing off; trade marks I: justifications, registration and absolute grounds for refusal of registration ; trade marks II: the relative grounds for refusal of registration, infringement, defences and exhaustion of rights; character merchandising and publicity rights; breach of confidence; patents I: justifications, registration and validity; patents II: infringement and entitlement; industrial design; intellectual property and information technologies; and intellectual property in action.

Intellectual Property Law: Text, Cases and Materials is well written by being both clear and accessible.  It superbly uses a colour background on cases, materials and further reading to differentiate it from the text: this is an excellent idea.  The authors also regularly pose, throughout the text, thought-provoking questions.  It would be helpful, however, if the answers were available either somewhere else in the text or online.  Unusually for a student text, it also deals with the important issue of how intellectual property law is dealt with in practice: this is vital for anyone interested in becoming a solicitor or a barrister.  Finally, the text comes with an online resource centre.  Whilst there are (unsurprisingly) no updates so far, it is hoped that the authors regularly provide them for such a fast-moving area of law.

Intellectual Property Law: Text, Cases and Materials aims to provide a "one-stop resource" on intellectual property law and largely achieves this aim.  It is both thought-provoking and accessible which encourages the reader to undertake further research by, perhaps, delving deeper into the extracts or considering the further reading.  Its price is, however, towards the top end of the student market and this may put off some readers.  Those who are willing to stretch their pursue-strings will, however, be rewarded and may save a significant amount of time which could otherwise be inefficiently used in the library.

Reviewed on 26 January 2010

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