Landmark in IP (Part I Cases)

Exceptional cases
might not be
exemplary cases
then again:  the
extraordinary
can shine a light
on the ordinary

Messrs Anselm Kamperman Sanders and Christopher Heath, decade long organisers of and contributors to the leading intellectual property (IP) seminar in Macau, have now written a chapter and edited nine other authors of Landmark Intellectual Property Cases And Their Legacy, in which some of the cases, that were dealt with at the seminars in Macau, were revisited.

In Part II, I will elaborate on the seminar in Macau that I attended last May. Now, I will give an overview of the contents of the book per chapter.

Landmark Intellectual Property Cases and Their Legacy

• Chapter 1. André Bertrand (André Bertrand et Associés in Paris) wrote about the French supreme court: copyright, contract and moral rights.
• Chapter 2. Peter K. Yu (professor at Drake University Law School) also dealt with moral rights.
• Chapter 3. Matthias Leistner (professor at the University of Bonn, and former guest professor at Xiamen University and Tonji University in Shanghai) explored the legacy of International New Service versus Associated Press (USA).
• Chapter 4. Anselm Kamperman Sanders (professor at Maastricht University) gives an introductory to the Odol case and its legacy.
• Chapter 5. Matthew Fisher (senior lecturer at Institute of Brand and Innovation Law at University College London) wrote about Darcy versus Allen.
• Chapter 6. Kung-Chung Liu (research fellow at the Institutum Jurisprudentiae, Academica Sinica) about the Taiwanese CD-R cases, abuses of monopolistic position, cartel and compulsory licensing.
• Chapter 7. Alain Strowel (Covington & Burling in Brussels and professor at Saint-Louis, Université de Liège and Katholieke Universiteit Brussel-Leuven) and Vicky Hanley (European Competitive Telecommunications Association) took on the Anton Piller Case.
• Chapter 8. Severin de Wit (Intellectual Property Expert Group Consultancy), shone his light on the eBay versus MercExchange case.
• Chapter 9. Aldo Nicotra (Johnson Winter & Slattery in Australia), Lego cases, which include cases from Hong Kong and China.
• Chapter 10. Christopher Heath (European Patent Office) discusses the comprehensive Budweiser cases (in over 40 jurisdictions).

In their preface Heath and Kamperman Sanders contemplate on what makes a landmark case "tower above" other cases. Extraordinary facts create exceptional cases. And, because of the extraordinary character of the facts, they might not serve as a good example for other cases. Heath and Kamperman Sanders conclude that landmark cases deal with fundamental issues. Therefore these cases will not become lapidary and continue to be relevant. I will definitely read this book.