ABSTRACT This study examines the politics of knowledge benefit-sharing within the re-regulatory framework of the Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement which entered into force in 1995 under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The thesis argues that TRIPS both represents a mainstream legal mechanism for states and organisations to govern ideas through trade, and is characterised by a commercial direction away from multilateralism to bilateralism. In its post-implementation phase, this situation has seen the strongest states and corporations consolidate extensive markets in knowledge goods and services. Through analyses of the various levels of international and national governance within the competitive knowledge structure of international political economy (IPE), this study argues that the politicisation of intellectual property has resulted in the dislocation of reciprocity from its normative roots in fairness and trade equity. In conducting this enquiry the research focuses on the political manifestations of intellectual property consistent with long-standing epistemic considerations of reciprocity to test the extent to which the intrinsic public good value of knowledge and its importance to human societies can be reconciled with the privatisation of public forms of knowledge related to discoveries and innovations. This thesis draws on Becker's virtue-theoretic model of reciprocity premised on normative obligations to social life to ground its claim that an absence of substantive reciprocal requirements capable of sustaining equivalent returns and rewards is detrimental, both theoretically and practically, to the intrinsic socio-cultural foundation and public good value of knowledge. The conceptual framework of reciprocity defined and developed in this study challenges the materialist controlling authority and proprietary ownership vested in intellectual property law. A new conceptual approach proposed through reciprocity, and provoked by on-going debates about IP recognition, knowledge protection, access and distribution is advanced to counter strengthened and expanded IPRs. Theories of knowledge and property drawn from political philosophies are employed to test whether reciprocity is sufficiently robust enough, or even capable of, encompassing the gap between capital and applied science. This thesis argues that hyper-capitalism at global, national and local levels, accompanied by the boundless accumulation of technology, closes down competition both compromising IP as private rights and the viability of their governance. The political implications of the protection and enforcement of private rights through IP is examined in two key chapters utilising empirical data in relation to traditional knowledge (TK) and reciprocity; the first sets the parameters of TK and the second explores aspects of Māori knowledge systems and reciprocity directed at identifying national and local issues of significance to the debates on IP governance. As a viable direction for knowledge governance this thesis concludes that the gap between the re-regulatory trade framework of intellectual property on the one hand, and reciprocity on the other, requires closing to ameliorate the detrimental disruptions to democratic integrity, fairness and trade equity for significant numbers of communities and peoples around the world.

This thesis investigates the problems associated with the development of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). The results of this investigation are used as input for the development of new spatial data policy strategies for individual organisations to enable an improved better facilitation of SDIs. Policy issues that need to be considered by an organisation when developing spatial data policies, were identified as being: SDI requirements; organisational issues; technical issues; Governmental/organisational duties; ownership/custodianship; privacy and confidentiality; legal liability, contracts and licences; Intellectual Property Law; economic analysis; data management; outreach, cooperation and political mandate; and users' choices, rights and obligations. In order to gain an understanding of current spatial data policy practices and to device new policy strategies a spatial data survey was conducted. This survey addressed the identified SDI problem areas. Some 6630 questionnaires were mailed out with more than 400 responses returned. These were reduced to 379 useful responses. Once analysed, the results were compared with the findings of the SDI investigation and used throughout the thesis. The results of the analysis to the spatial data survey are displayed in tables and graphs throughout Chapters 3, 4, 5 and 6 and in Appendix 2. The tables and graphs show the answers to the questions asked in the questionnaire as a percentage of the total number of respondents. The survey discovered that many organisations had no spatial data policies, nor individual policies on spatial data pricing and/or intellectual property protection. This thesis established that SDI requirements are not being met by many spatial data policies used by individual organisations. Hence, the thesis studied the spatial data policy issues that are involved when an organisation develops new policies with the aim to aid the development of SDIs. It uniquely established current Australian spatial data policy practices in the areas of spatial data quality, access, pricing, and legal issues to form the basis for future strategies. It reviewed the current knowledge of intellectual property law applied to spatial data and devised new approaches to deal with all the identified policy issues. Finally, the thesis defines spatial data policies that facilitate SDI development.

For the past two decades, intellectual property law has been the fastest growing and most dynamic field in Indonesia. But, despite impressive and extensive legal reform conducted by the Indonesian government in the area, intellectual property laws remain very difficult to enforce. Ignorance of intellectual property law is widespread within the country and protection of intellectual property rights is both practically and legally weak.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on December 14, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

<p>Patent law has during time evolved from industrial inventions to also include intellectual inventions. Patentability has as well changed with time. For technology to be patentable it must be considered to be a technical solution to a problem, and today genetic inventions are considered to be such a technical solution. From the beginning plants and animals were not considered as inventions; however, technology progress urged modifications of existing legislation to meet development progress within technology. European as well as international harmonization have been carried out in this field to ensure uniformity.</p><p>The exclusion from patentability for plant and animal varieties can be found in several sources of law; this study focuses on the exclusions in Article 4 of Directive 98/44/EC on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions, as well as in Article 53b of the European Patent Convention. After two specific cases from the European Patent Office the scope of the exclusion from patentability for plant and animal varieties was questioned. The two cases ONCO-mouse and Plant Genetic Systems had different outcomes, patent was granted in one case and not in the other; and that raised confusion as to the definition of plant and animal varieties, as both cases concerned genetic modification.</p><p>Although there is no clear definition of plant and animal varieties, case law provides guidance to a certain extent, the reasoning in the case law also gives guidance as to where the judiciary is heading in its interpretation. There is more legislation concerning plant varieties, and the definition of this term might be considered to be clearer. The general opinion seems to be that what is said about plant varieties should be applied mutatis mutandis to animal varieties, and vice versa, however this may be questionable in some cases. The lack of a clear definition of the terms plant and animal varieties might result in a lack of legal certainty in this field, as demonstrated by the questioning of the two contradicting cases mentioned above.</p><p>Rapid developments in the field of biotechnology imply that the patentability of plants and animals will be assessed on other grounds in the future. As biotechnology is an expanding area, the acceptance of new controversial inventions may occur on a more regular basis. Time will tell if this is the case.</p>

The development of web technology has led to the emergence of web aggregation, a service that collects existing web data and turns them into more useful information. We review the development of both comparison and relationship aggregation and discuss their impacts on various stakeholders. The aggregator’s capability of transparently extracting web data has raised challenging issues in database and privacy protection. Consequently, new regulations are introduced or being proposed. We analyze the interactions between aggregation and related policies and provide our insights about the implications of new policies on the development of web aggregation. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2003. Graduate Programme in Language, Culture and Teaching. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-220). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99164

This paper analyzes the visions, schemas, and vocabularies of prominent rights expression languages, including Creative Commons, METS, ODRL, and MPEG-21. The paper extends Michel Callon’s sociological insight that all forms of human agency are multiple and diverse. Callon argues, in the context of economic sociology, that one must constantly decide between a strategy emphasizing “framing” as the norm with “overflows” treated as leaks, or conversely a strategy accepting “overflows” as the norm with “framing” as inherently imperfect. Callon’s categories are extended, through a modeling exercise, to the classification of current metadata schemes. The analysis suggests that metadata developers should explore what semantic choices and strictures are left out of metadata schemes, as well as those that are included. Such a thought exercise is especially useful in distinguishing areas suited for XML rights markup extensions.

<p>Syfte och frågeställningar </p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats var att granska skattelagstiftningen rörande sponsring, samt att jämföra de befintliga reglerna rörande sponsring med Stockholms Handelskammares förslag ny lagtext. Målet med Handelskammarens förslag är att det ska bli enklare för företag att dra utgifter för sponsring. Vi hade följande frågeställningar: Varför skall sponsring vara avdragsgill? Vilka följder kan Handelskammarens nya förslag ge? Skall avtal inom sponsring vara skriftliga? Varför anses motprestation som enbart höjer goodwill och image som gåva?</p><p> </p><p>Metod </p><p>Rättsdogmatisk metod, som går ut på att systematisera och tolka rättsregler med hjälp av lagtext, rättspraxis och juridiska arbeten. </p><p>Resultat </p><p>Enligt lag skall utgifter för att förvärva och bibehålla intäkter dras av som kostnad, en sponsringsutgift skall alltså därför dras av som kostnad och därmed vara avdragsgill. Stockholms Handelskammares nya lagtextförslag skulle innebära att utgifter som kan antas få betydelse för näringsverksamheten skall dras av, tanken är att motprestation i form av att stärka företagets goodwill och image skall vara avdragsgill. Detta skulle kunna utnyttjas för personligt intresse, alltså skulle det kunna vara möjligt att dra av rena gåvor som sponsring. Idag finns det inget krav på skriftligt avtal inom sponsring, vi anser att det vore bra ur bevisningssynpunkt för företag om det förelåg ett krav på skriftlig dokumentation. Orsaken till att motprestation som bara höjer goodwill och image anses som gåva är att om det skulle vara avdragsgill kan detta utnyttjas för personligt intresse. </p><p>Slutsats </p><p>Idag finns det enligt vår undersökning tre vägar att gå: antingen att behålla den befintliga lagen, att anamma Stockholms Handelskammares nya lagtextförslag eller att utveckla ett nytt förslag. Vi anser att den befintliga lagen är det bättre alternativet i nuläget, orsaken till detta är att Handelkammarens förslag enligt vår mening är väl liberalt då alla utgifter som antas ha betydelse för näringsverksamheten skall dras av som kostnad. Vår rekommendation är att avtal inom sponsring skall vara skriftliga. En lösning på värderingsproblematiken efterlyses. </p>