Letters to an IP Law Student: The Challenge of Intellectual Property
Dear Alex,
Intellectual property is not complicated, although it probably looks complicated to you at the moment. Because it is so topical, and so closely connected with daily life, you should find it less abstruse than other legal areas. But you must beware, because there are several traps into which you might fall.
Most importantly, intellectual property is only treated as a single subject for convenience. It is not a unitary area of law: rather, it comprises several different areas which share certain features. Because they are designed to do different jobs, and have developed without the law-makers troubling to make intellectual property a coherent and logical legal system, there are many places where different areas of law overlap, and other areas where you might think that protection is lacking.
Until perhaps 40 years ago, English lawyers did not talk about intellectual property. They talked instead about patents, trade marks, copyright and designs. They also talked about confidential information and trade secrets, and about passing off. Some of them might even have talked about plant-breeders’ rights, but fortunately no-one expects you to know anything about that subject.