Intellectual-property law: References & Edit History

Helpful resources on the development of intellectual-property law are Bruce W. Bugbee, Genesis of American Patent and Copyright Law (1967); Frank D. Prager, “A History of Intellectual Property from 1545 to 1787,” Journal of the Patent Office Society, 26(11):711–760 (November 1944); and Frank I. Schechter, The Historical Foundations of the Law Relating to Trademarks (1925, reissued 1999).

An excellent treatment of the law of industrial designs is Ralph S. Brown, “Design Protection: An Overview,” UCLA Law Review, 34(5–6):1341–1404 (June–August 1987). A good general study of the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Agreement is Michael P. Ryan, Knowledge Diplomacy: Global Competition and the Politics of Intellectual Property (1998).

The utilitarian argument for copyright protection is criticized in Stephen Breyer, “The Uneasy Case for Copyright: A Study of Copyright in Books, Photocopies, and Computer Programs,” Harvard Law Review, 84(2):281–351 (December 1970). The Lockean argument is discussed in Wendy J. Gordon, “A Property Right in Self-Expression: Equality and Individualism in the Natural Law of Intellectual Property,” The Yale Law Journal, 102(7):1533–1609 (May 1993). A study of the Hegelian argument is Lynn Sharp Paine, “Trade Secrets and the Justification of Intellectual Property: A Comment on Hettinger,” Philosophy & Public Affairs, vol. 20, pp. 247–263 (1991). The social-planning approach is exemplified by Rosemary J. Coombe, The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties: Authorship, Appropriation, and the Law (1998).