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Provides a comprehensive and engaging introduction to copyright, patents, trademarks, and other forms of knowledge that are subject to global law and regulation.

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We all create intellectual property. We all use intellectual property. Intellectual property is the most pervasive yet least understood way we regulate expression. Despite its importance to so many aspects of the global economy and daily life, intellectual property policy remains a confusing and arcane subject. This engaging book clarifies both the basic terms and the major conflicts surrounding these fascinating areas of law, offering a layman´s introduction tocopyright, patents, trademarks, and other forms of knowledge falling under the purview of intellectual property rights. Using vivid examples, noted media expert Siva Vaidhyanathan illustrates the powers and limits of intellectual property, distilling with grace and wit the complex tangle of laws,policies, and values governing the dissemination of ideas, expressions, inventions, creativity, and data collection in the modern world.Vaidhyanathan explains that intellectual property exists as it does because powerful interests want it to exist. The strongest economies in the world have a keen interest in embedding rigid methods of control and enforcement over emerging economies to preserve the huge economic interests linked to their copyright industries-film, music, software, and publishing. For this reason, the fight over the global standardization of intellectual property has become one of the most important sites oftension in North-South global relations. Through compelling case studies, including those of Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Sony, Amazon, and Google Books, Vaidhyanathan shows that the modern intellectual property systems reflect three centuries of changes in politics, economics, technologies, and social values.Although it emerged from a desire to foster creativity while simultaneously protecting it, intellectual property today has fundamentally shifted to a political dimension.

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In the course of a book tracing the legal paths by which ideas about intellectual property has traveled, Vaidhyanathan illuminates conflicting truths... In this smart, engaging book, surprisingly provocative for a short introduction, he won this reader. Karin Wulf, The Scholarly Kitchen

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Siva Vaidhyanathan is a Professor of Media Studies and Law at the University of Virginia. He is a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues for The Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times Magazine, The Nation, MSNBC.com, and Salon.com. He is the author of several books, including Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and The Anarchist in the Library: Howthe Clash Between Freedom and Control Is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System.

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