Book notice: three new copyright titles

The publication of three new books is noted here.  In an ideal world I would read and review them, but I'm fast disappearing under a pile of incoming work and it seemed a good idea to post something about their publication now, so that blog readers can at least have the chance to find out more about them and read them while they're fresh.

The Law and Economics of Intellectual Property in the Digital Age: the Limits of Analysis, by Niva Elkin-Kore and, Eli Salzberger, came out on 31 October 2012.  It is published and belongs to that publisher's Routledge Research in Intellectual Property.

According to the publisher:

"This book explores the economic analysis of intellectual property law, with a special emphasis on the Law and Economics of informational goods in light of the past decade’s technological revolution. In recent years there has been massive growth in the Law and Economics literature focusing on intellectual property, on both normative and positive levels of analysis. The economic approach to intellectual property is often described as a monolithic, coherent approach that may differ only as it is applied to a particular case. Yet the growing literature of Law and Economics in intellectual property does not speak in one voice. The economic discourse used in legal scholarship and in policy-making encompasses several strands, each reflecting a fundamentally different approach to the economics of informational works, and each grounded in a different ideology or methodological paradigm.

This book delineates the various economic approaches taken and analyzes their tenets. It maps the fundamental concepts and the theoretical foundation of current economic analysis of intellectual property law, in order to fully understand the ramifications of using economic analysis of law in policy making. In so doing, one begins to appreciate the limitations of the current frameworks in confronting the challenges of the information revolution. The book addresses the fundamental adjustments in the methodology and underlying assumptions that must be employed in order for the economic approach to remain a useful analytical framework for addressing IPR in the information age".

Bibliographic data: xii + 286 pages. Hardback. ISBN 978-0-415-49908-8. Price £80. Web page here,

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Copyright Industries and the Impact of Creative Destruction: Copyright Expansion and the Publishing Industry by Jiabo Liu, was published at the tail end of November 2012 by Routledge and, like the book above, is also part of the series Routledge Research in Intellectual Property.  The publisher's web-blurb describes it as follows:

"This book examines the relationship between the legal extension of copyright duration as an enduring means of copyright protection and the growth of the UK book publishing industry as a typical creative industry reliant on copyright. The book draws on Schumpeter’s theory of creative destruction to analyse the implications of copyright law and policy on the book industry and illustrate the dynamic interaction between copyright expansion and the growth of the creative industries. The book reviews the historical development of UK copyright expansion and also considers copyright in the digital age. It explores the legal and economic concerns about copyright protection in general, and the expansion of copyright duration in particular. Using an innovative empirical method, it explores whether the expansion of the duration of copyright promotes or precludes the growth of book publishing industry. It goes on to suggest changes to copyright policy which would have an impact on the economics of innovation in the creative industries".

Bibliographic data: xviii + 286 pages.Hardback. ISBN 978-0-415-52388-2. Price £85. Web page here.

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International Copyright Law and Access to Education in Developing Countries International Copyright Law and Access to Education in Developing Countries: Exploring Multilateral Legal and Quasi-Legal Solutions, by Susan Isiko Štrba, is Volume 10 in its Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. According to the publishers:

"In International Copyright Law and Access to Education in Developing Countries: Exploring Multilateral Legal and Quasi-Legal Solutions, Susan Isiko Štrba offers an understanding of the legal relationship between copyright regulation and access to education in developing countries, and explores both institutional and normative ways to facilitate access to printed educational and research materials".

Bibliographic data: xvii + 237 pages. Hardback. ISBN  13: 978-9-0-042-2899-3. Book's web page here/