IP Accidents
Negligence Liability in Intellectual Property

Introduces the concept of 'IP accidents' to establish a new way to look at intellectual property law and its enforcement.

Patrick R. Goold (Author)

9781108841481, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 March 2022

200 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.4 cm, 0.369 kg

'Goold's monograph elegantly explains how the history and theory of negligence law, combined with the expansion of the scope of patent and copyright law, should lead us to reject talismanic invocations of strict liability in intellectual property cases.' Rebecca Tushnet, Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment, Harvard Law School

In the twenty-first century, it has become easy to break IP law accidentally. The challenges presented by orphan works, independent invention or IP trolls are merely examples of a much more fundamental problem: IP accidents. This book argues that IP law ought to govern accidental infringement much like tort law governs other types of accidents. In particular, the accidental infringer ought to be liable in IP law only when their conduct was negligent. The current strict liability approach to IP infringement was appropriate in the nineteenth century, when IP accidents were far less frequent. But in the Information Age, where accidents are increasingly common, efficiency, equity, and fairness support the reform of IP to a negligence regime. Patrick R. Goold provides the most coherent explanation of how property and tort interact within the field of IP, contributing to a clearer understanding of property and tort law and private law generally.

1. Introduction
2. Accidents
3. History
4. Efficiency and equity
5. Fairness
6. Negligence
7. Conclusion (On property, tort, and IP).

Subject Areas: Intellectual property law [LNR], Comparative law [LAM]