Intellectual Property, Ethical Innovation and Sustainability: Towards a New Social Contract for the Digital Economy?

This forward-looking book examines how growing concerns for the environment, technological advancements and sustainable development are impacting intellectual property (IP) law. Expert contributors explore how IP law and enforcement must be applied to new innovations in order to balance economic and social interests in the IP system.

Authors conceptualise the relationship between IP, sustainability and ethics, considering innovations derived from historical knowledge as well as a coherent framework for IP development in competition policy. The topic is assessed in the context of digital advancements such as AI, scrutinising the ethics of copyright protection and the right to research. Case studies from across the globe analyse, among other things, sustainable patent practices in Japan, the use of inter- and intra-regional agreements in Latin America and sustainable innovation in the EU craft sector. The authors investigate how current IP rights can be reconciled with ethical and sustainability imperatives in different economic sectors, including agriculture, food production, oil and gas.

Intellectual Property, Ethical Innovation and Sustainability is a valuable resource for scholars and students of intellectual property and environmental law. It is also highly beneficial for legal policymakers and practitioners interested in ethical innovation, sustainability and the digital economy.

Edited by Christophe Geiger, Full Professor of Law and Director of the Innovation Law and Ethics Observatory (ILEO), Luiss University, Italy