Intellectual Property Law provides a detailed analysis of intellectual property law with reference to a wide range of academic opinion, giving a broad context for exploring the key principles of the subject. The book covers a number of areas of intellectual property law including copyright, patents, the legal regulation of designs, trade marks and passing off, confidential information, misuse of private information, and litigation and remedies. In this sixth edition, the introduction has been updated to take account of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. Important developments covered include CJEU decisions on the concept of a copyright work, communication to the public, digital exhaustion and defences, and the Court of Appeal’s analysis of joint authorship.
Book
Lionel Bently, Brad Sherman, Dev Gangjee, and Phillip Johnson
Chapter
This chapter discusses the law on the protection of privacy. The passage of the Human Rights Act 1998, incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic law, enabled a new perspective on the question of protection of privacy, previously not covered by a specific tort. The art 8 right to respect for private and family life must be balanced with the equally powerful art 10 right to freedom of expression. Campbell v MGN (2004) provides a detailed consideration of this area of law by the House of Lords. The chapter covers the action for misuse of private information, the issue of photography, and that of remedies.
Chapter
This chapter examines the privacy action in tort. It explains that the tort has its origins in the equitable wrong of breach of confidence. It discusses the gist and elements of this tort and highlights the influence of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the case law. The law now protects against infringements of private information and against infringements upon the seclusion of the individual. This chapter also discusses potential defences, which include consent to the disclosure and the differential treatment of private information in the public domain.
Chapter
This chapter studies breach of confidence. In the United Kingdom, the area of breach of confidence has traditionally been used to protect ideas and information, including trade secrets. The doctrine of breach of confidence is judge-made law, rooted in equitable principles. In consequence, it has developed in a piecemeal, and sometimes contradictory fashion, so that the rationale for the action has not always been clear. Nevertheless, the law of confidence is broad enough in the United Kingdom to encompass: the common definition of a trade secret (commercial, usually technical information); personal, private information which may also have a commercial value (including information which may be protected under the right to privacy under Art. 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)); and information protected by the state. The chapter then looks at the role of trade secrets in intellectual property law and considers the EU Trade Secrets Directive.
Chapter
Donal Nolan and Ken Oliphant
The right of privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights was incorporated into English law by the Human Rights Act 1998, but English law as yet recognises no tort of invasion of privacy as such. Admittedly, a number of specific torts protect particular aspects of privacy, but this protection may be regarded as haphazard, incidental and incomplete. Recent decisions, however, have seen substantial developments in the protection given to particular privacy interests, above all by adapting the law of breach of confidence to provide a remedy against the unauthorised disclosure of private information. These issues are discussed in sequence in this chapter.
Chapter
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter focuses on the emergence of a new action to protect privacy under the Human Rights Act 1998, with particular reference to unjustified publication of private information. It begins by considering whether privacy is a protected interest at common law and whether privacy must be recognized and given protection through the law of tort. It then examines the tools which have been used in the partial absorption of privacy as a protected interest in common law, citing the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The controversies surrounding disclosure of private information and the power of injunctions are also considered, along with the issue of intrusion as an invasion of privacy.
Chapter
Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. The Calcutt Committee Report on Privacy and Related Matters (1990) defined privacy as ‘the right of the individual to be protected against intrusion into his personal life or affairs, or those of his family, by direct physical means or by publication of information’. While a number of different torts indirectly address wrongful intrusion into another’s privacy, English law has not directly protected privacy in its own right. It was the Human Rights Act 1998 that has made it possible to use breach of confidence in regulating the publication of private information. This chapter looks at the history of the protection of privacy in English law, discusses the current legal approaches to privacy, examines the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on this developing area of law, and evaluates English law on privacy in an international context.
Chapter
This chapter discusses violations of human privacy by private individuals and organisations. This is a rapidly evolving area of the law, one which has, like defamation, been influenced to a great extent by developments in communication technology, as well as in human rights law. And like defamation, this area of the law too raises important questions about the role, and conduct, of the press. The discussion in this chapter is divided as follows: (1) the difficulties of defining privacy; (2) the casuistic protection afforded by English law; (3) the protection afforded in the most important types of cases; (4) the growth of breach of confidence after the entry into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the emergence in recent years of the ‘distinct’ tort of misuse of private information; (5) Europe and beyond.
Chapter
Stuart Bell, Donald McGillivray, Ole W. Pedersen, Emma Lees, and Elen Stokes
This chapter introduces the system of environmental regulation by building upon Ch. 4, which examined the sources of environmental law. In practice, environmental regulation involves more than the use of legal rules that forbid pollution and other forms of environmental harm. ‘Regulation’ is used to describe a wide range of different tools used in both legal and non-legal contexts—for example, it covers mandatory rules contained in environmental legislation, as well as non-binding environmental standards. The chapter outlines some of the reasons for regulating to protect the environment, before explaining how such regulation is introduced, applied, enforced, and reviewed. It examines the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of different approaches to standard-setting and the various instruments used to regulate potentially environmentally damaging activities. The chapter discusses several trends in modern environmental regulation, including the policy emphasis on deregulation and the use of information disclosure as a means of governing group or individual behaviour.
Chapter
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter focuses on the emergence of a new action to protect privacy under the Human Rights Act 1998, with particular reference to unjustified publication of private information. It begins by considering whether privacy is a protected interest at common law and whether privacy must be recognised and given protection through the law of tort. It then examines the tools which have been used in the partial absorption of privacy as a protected interest in common law, citing the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998 and Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The controversies surrounding disclosure of private information and the power of injunctions are also considered, along with the issue of intrusion as an invasion of privacy.
Chapter
Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams, and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. The Calcutt Committee Report on Privacy and Related Matters (1990) defined privacy as ‘the right of the individual to be protected against intrusion into his personal life or affairs, or those of his family, by direct physical means or by publication of information’. While a number of different torts indirectly address wrongful intrusion into another’s privacy, English law has not directly protected privacy in its own right. It was the Human Rights Act 1998 that has made it possible to use breach of confidence in regulating the publication of private information. This chapter looks at the history of the protection of privacy in English law, discusses the current legal approaches to privacy, examines the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 on this developing area of law, and evaluates English law on privacy in an international context.
Chapter
This chapter examines the nascent ‘tort’ of invasion of privacy. It first considers why no free-standing tort of invasion of privacy exists, before looking at breach of confidence—a legal concept straddling tort and equity and concerned with ‘secrets’ and judicially adapted to protect privacy by developing the new tort of misuse of private information. The chapter then asks whether developments in the law protecting privacy—particularly in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998—threaten freedom of expression and therefore the general public’s ‘right’ to information, particularly about celebrities, including royalty and politicians.
Chapter
This chapter examines the nascent ‘tort’ of invasion of privacy. It first considers why no free-standing tort of invasion of privacy exists, before looking at breach of confidence—a legal concept straddling tort and equity and concerned with ‘secrets’ and judicially adapted to protect privacy by developing the new tort of misuse of private information. The chapter then asks whether developments in the law protecting privacy—particularly in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998—threaten freedom of expression and therefore the general public’s ‘right’ to information, particularly about celebrities, including royalty and politicians.
Chapter
L. Bently, B. Sherman, D. Gangjee, and P. Johnson
This chapter examines the tort of misuse of private information. It begins by considering the sort of information that can be considered private. It then moves on to examining the test for whether there is a reasonable expectation of privacy over such information. The chapter looks at the ‘ultimate balancing test’ that is the balancing of rights under Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights and concludes by touching on reform.
Chapter
L. Bently, B. Sherman, D. Gangjee, and P. Johnson
This chapter examines the tort of misuse of private information. It begins by considering the sort of information that can be considered private, before moving on to examining the test for whether there is a reasonable expectation of privacy over such information before, finally, looking at the ‘ultimate balancing test’ that is the balancing of rights under Article 8 and 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Chapter
This chapter provides an overview of the characteristics of the contemporary administrative state. It sketches out the essential features of state institutions mainly created under the prerogative power or statute. This includes central government, the National Health Service, local government, the police, and non-departmental public bodies. The chapter is also concerned with explaining the character of the modern administrative state as a ‘contracting state’ which relies increasingly on contractual relationships between government and independent and private service providers. In the light of widespread privatisation, the modern administrative state is discussed finally as a regulatory state.
