Developments and Directions in Intellectual Property Law

The book 'Developments and Directions in Intellectual Property Law' (OUP, 2023) is edited by Dr Hayleigh Bosher (Brunel University London) and Professor Eleonora Rosatti (Stockholm University).

The edited collection celebrates the 20th anniversary of the award-winning intellectual property (IP) blog, The IPKat, originally founded in 2003. Over the past two decades, The IPKat has covered and commented on several of the most topical developments in the IP field from substantive, practical, and policy standpoints. Today, The IPKat is considered the 'Most Popular Intellectual Property Law Blawg' of all time (source: Justia). Its readers are academics, members of the judiciary, policy and law-makers, practitioners, and students from all over the world.

By bringing together several of the current and past contributors to The IPKat, this book reflects on the developments and directions that have emerged in the IP field over the past twenty years. Topics covered include changes within substantive IP rights, as well as IP law, policy, and practice broadly intended and from a global perspective.

From copyright to trade marks, patents to designs, image and publicity rights to geographical indications, and developments in IP practice and the court system to contract drafting, readers of this book will find expert insights into some of the most notable developments in IP since the inception of The IPKat blog.

The project involved publishing a collection and organising a one-day conference, celebrating 20 years of intellectual property and The IPKat blog, and bringing together the IP community to discuss the key developments in the field. 

The book and the event serve the IP community (academics, students, law-makers, policy-makers, lawyers and practitioners) both in terms of the content which discussed key developments in IP, but also in terms of bringing together the community. 

Publications/outputs

Bosher, H. and Rosati, E. (eds.) (2023) Developments and Directions in Intellectual Property Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bosher, H. (2023) 'Music copyright infringement cases in US and UK: Building a house upon the sand or the rock?', in Bosher, H. and Rosati, E. (eds.) Developments and Directions in Intellectual Property Law. Oxford : Oxford University Press.

Bosher, H. and Jones, S. (2023) 'The changing impact of IP on individuals and small businesses and the importance of pro bono services', in Bosher, H. and Rosati, E. (eds.) Developments and Directions in Intellectual Property Law. Oxford : Oxford University Press. 

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Dr Hayleigh Bosher - Hayleigh is a Reader in Intellectual Property Law and Associate Dean (Professional Development and Graduate Outcomes) at Brunel University London, as well as, Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Intellectual Property, Policy and Management, a legal consultant in the creative industries, an advisor for the independent UK charity for professional musicians, Help Musicians. Hayleigh was awarded the British Academy Researcher-led Innovation Fellowships 2023-24 for her project 'The Future of the UK Music Industry: Exploring Policy and Practice,' in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Hayleigh is well-recognised in the field of intellectual property law, in particular copyright law and the creative industries, and has attained an international reputation in the field of music copyright in particular. Her work in this area has been cited extensively in academic, practitioner and policy outputs and she is regularly interviewed by numerous national and international media outlets, including the BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 5 News and The Guardian, The Times and The Wall Street Journal. Hayleigh researches in the area of copyright and related laws in the creative industries, particularly in context of music, social media, and artificial intelligence and related technologies. Her research always involves public, policy and industry engagement, with an emphasis on helping creators understand their rights whilst at the same time ensuring that those rights are fairly balanced and adequately supported by law. As such, she is widely published in academic peer-reviewed journals, in the press, and has responded to a number of policy inquiries at international and national level. Her recent book; Copyright in the Music Industry, is accompanied with a playlist and podcast which she produces and co-hosts with Jules O'Riordan (AKA Judge Jules). She appeared before the DCMS Select Committee in relation to their Inquiry on the Economics of Music Streaming, the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee for their Inquiry on the Governance of Artificial Intelligence and the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee on Large Language Models. Hayleigh is a member of the UK Intellectual Property Office Research Experts Advisory Group, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence: Social and Digital Innovation, and the Research Centre for Law, Economics and Finance at Brunel. Hayleigh joined Brunel in 2018, having previously held positions at Coventry University, The University of the Arts London and the Academy of Digital Entertainment, Breda University (Netherlands). 

Project last modified 28/09/2023