Intellectual Property and the Public Domain

This single volume is an authoritative collection of scholarship examining many facets of the public domain. This publication collects key papers, whose topic is the various justifications for a rich repository of publicly-available information, including policies favoring robust competition, free speech, and scientific and technological advance. It also explores problems in ensuring access to public domain works, as well as commons management mechanisms. Perspectives on the dynamic between the public domain and the creation of new works are also presented.

With an original introduction by the editors, this insightful book provides students and researchers with a consideration of the public domain as an important topic in its own right as well as shedding light on the underlying rationales of intellectual property law.