Is there a role for intellectual property rights to play in the informal economy? What formal and informal strategies do informal sector actors use to appropriate benefits from their innovation? I’ve been exploring these questions through my co-leadership of the Open AIR project, and as an expert consultant on...
This article presents the results of a systematic review and analysis of the way that “the future” is addressed in intellectual property literature. Co-authored with two of my brightest students, it is available as an open access download in HTML or PDF format through its publisher, SCRIPTed, a high-quality, online,...
This peer-reviewed article in the European Intellectual Property Review provides a timely comparative analysis of recent Canadian and European Union (EU) copyright cases regarding the nature and scope of communication rights, as applied to the issue of copyright infringement liability for hyperlinking. Mira Burri and I link possible copyright...
Knowledge and Innovation in Africa: Scenarios for the Future grapples with the complex and dynamic forces that will shape innovation systems over the next two decades. The report distills three different but equally plausible future scenarios: one a world of “wireless engagement,” another where “informal is the new normal,”...
Innovation and Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa is a book of real-world case studies that show how intellectual property can play a positive role in collaborative innovation systems if policymakers prioritise the public interest. Editors: Jeremy de Beer, Chris Armstrong, Chidi Oguamanam & Tobias Schonwetter ISBN: 978-1-919895-99-4 Published by UCT Press, 2013 The...
Parallel imports are not pirated goods nor counterfeit products. Rather, they are genuine articles sold in another country with the authority of the intellectual property rights owner. Parallel imports help to prevent geographic price discrimination. They are one way of encouraging pricing parity across borders, and an essential aspect of free trade....