Intellectual Property and the Public Domain (Critical Concepts in Intellectual Property Law Series)

This research review examines the many facets of the public domain. It discusses key papers, whose topic is the various justifications for a rich repository of publicly-avaliable information, including policies favouring robust competition, free speech, and scientific and technological advance. It also explores problems in ensuring access to public domain works, as well as commons management mechanisms. Perspectives on the dynamic between the public domain and the creation of new works are also presented.

This research review is an insightful resource for students and researchers with a consideration of the public domain as an important topic in its own right as well as shedding light on the underlying rationales of intellectual property law.

Edited by Robert P. Merges, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati Professor of Law and Technology and Co-Director, Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, University of California, Berkeley and Amy L. Landers, Professor of Law and Director of the Intellectual Property Concentration, Drexel University, Thomas R. Kline School of Law, US