In the past, the identity of a child's mother was always clear. However, thanks to reproductive technologies, a woman can gestate, nourish, and give birth to a child to whom she is not genetically connected. In addition, a person can be legally male and conceive, carry, and give birth to a child. The law has had to adapt to these circumstances. This chapter looks at how the law has defined parentage. It considers reproductive technologies and the various permutations of conception that exist today. It then turns to parental responsibility before concluding by looking at the position of unmarried fathers.
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Chapter
Alisdair A. Gillespie and Siobhan Weare
This chapter considers the impact that COVID-19 has had on the English Legal System. The chapter is broken down into sections that mirror the parts of this book. The chapter begins by noting that the manner in which laws are passed differed because of coronavirus. The government were given wide-ranging powers to introduce new laws that restricted liberty. In many instances, these were not subject to Parliamentary debate or judicial analysis. The chapter also considers how the courts had to adjust to new ways of working. While traditionally, the courts rely on live proceedings, with everyone gathered in court, this was not possible throughout the pandemic. Remote hearings became the new normal until so-called ‘Nightingale Courts’ were introduced to allow for socially-distant trials to resume. However, this has led to significant delays in both the civil and criminal justice systems that will have a lasting impact. The chapter considers not only what has happened during the coronavirus pandemic, but also what lessons have been learnt that can carry through to the future.
Chapter
This chapter considers the impact that Covid-19 has had on the English Legal System. The chapter is broken down into sections that mirror the parts of this book. The chapter begins by noting that the manner in which laws are passed differed because of coronavirus. The government was given wide-ranging powers to introduce new laws that restricted liberty. In many instances, these were not subject to parliamentary debate or judicial analysis. The chapter also considers how the courts had to adjust to new ways of working. While traditionally the courts rely on live proceedings, with everyone gathered in court, this was not possible throughout the pandemic. Remote hearings became the new normal until so-called ‘Nightingale courts’ were introduced to allow for socially distant trials to resume. However, this has led to significant delays in both the civil and criminal justice systems that will have a lasting impact. The chapter considers not only what happened during the coronavirus pandemic, but also what lessons have been learnt that can carry through to the future.
Chapter
Alison Jones, Brenda Sufrin, and Niamh Dunne
This chapter examines some of the different types of intellectual property rights (IPRs) before outlining the relationship between intellectual property and both EU competition law and the EU free movement rules. It focuses, however, on IP licensing agreements and their treatment under Article 101. The chapter traces the development of EU competition policy to IP licensing agreements and examine the current Technology Transfer Block Exemption and the Guidelines in detail. It also examines patent settlement agreements (including pay for delay agreements), patent pools, trademark licences, trademark delimitation agreements, and copyright (other than software) licences not covered by the TTBER and Guidelines.
Book
Abbe Brown, Smita Kheria, Jane Cornwell, and Marta Iljadica
Contemporary Intellectual Property: Law and Policy, fifth edition, offers a unique perspective on intellectual property (IP) law, unrivalled amongst IP textbooks. An accessible introduction to IP law, it provides not only a comprehensive account of the substantive law, but also discusses the overarching policies directing the legal decision-making, as well as areas for further debate. Intellectual property law is an increasingly global subject, and the book introduces the relevant European and international dimensions to present a realistic view of the law as it actually operates. It explores IP law as an organic discipline, evaluating the success with which it has responded to new challenges. Images and diagrams, with analysis of key cases and key extracts, are all incorporated alongside the author commentary to clearly illustrate the core principles in IP law. Exercise, questions, and discussion points are provided to help the reader to engage with the material, and additional material is provided in the Online Resources. Beyond providing an up-to-date account of IP law, the text examines the complex policies that inform modern IP law at the domestic (including Scottish), European, and international levels, giving the reader a true insight into the discipline and the shape of things to come. The focus is on contemporary challenges to IP law and policy, and the reader is encouraged to engage critically with the text and the subject matter. The book has been carefully developed to ensure that the complexities of the subject are addressed in a clear and approachable way.
Book
Information Technology Law: The Law and Society is the ideal companion for a course of study on information technology law and the ways in which it is evolving in response to rapid technological and social change. The fourth edition of this groundbreaking textbook develops its unique examination of the legal processes and their relationship to the modern ‘information society’. Charting the development of the rapid digitization of society and its impact on established legal principles, Murray examines the challenges faced with enthusiasm and clarity. Following a clearly defined part structure, the text begins by defining the information society and discussing how it may be regulated, before moving on to explore issues of internet governance, privacy and surveillance, intellectual property and rights, and commerce within the digital sphere. The author’s highly original and thought-provoking approach to the subject also makes it essential reading for researchers, IT professionals, and policymakers. This fourth edition includes expanded coverage of net neutrality, cryptocurrency, and blockchain technology as well as being significantly explained to cover developments in data retention and protection in light of significant developments in the area.
Chapter
The question ‘what can we control?’ underpins both the information society and the knowledge economy, and represents the maturity of information technology. Most importantly, it signals a transition from a world that saw economic value in terms of atoms to a world which values information in bits. This chapter examines this transition and the role of bits in the information society. It first provides an overview of bits and their place in the digitization process. The chapter then looks at the advent of digital music and other digital goods such as digital video and electronic books. It also considers the shift from rivalrous goods to nonrivalrous goods before concluding with a discussion of the legal challenge of the information society.
Chapter
This concluding chapter focuses on legal methods more conceptually. It aims to develop in readers a deeper understanding of what is involved in legal reasoning, understood primarily as the logical and argumentative forms of reasoning used in adjudication. It goes on to explore the question whether legal rules act as a significant justification for or constraint on judicial decision-making, as explained through the competing lenses of two important methodologies: legal formalism and legal realism. The significance of this conceptual debate about legal reasoning is illustrated with reference to current attempts to model legal decision-making through digital expert systems and AI, and these processes are used to highlight a number of themes and issues from earlier chapters in the book.
Chapter
This chapter discusses patents, which are granted for new and inventive technological developments but not for developments in the creative or non-technological arts. Areas on the borderline between technical and other forms of creativity are the subject of difficulty and controversy. Patents last for 20 years from application, but may be revoked at any time on the grounds that the invention does not meet the requirements for patentability. Manufacturing or dealing in products, or carrying out processes, as described in the patent’s claims, infringes the patent. Unlike copyright, where both economic and individual rights are important, the main reasons for the grant of patents are economic, to encourage technological development. Patents are considered essential to many industries such as the pharmaceutical industry, where there is also a strong public interest in the development and accessibility of technology. The law must strike a balance between the public and private interests.
Chapter
Stuart Bell, Donald McGillivray, Ole W. Pedersen, Emma Lees, and Elen Stokes
This chapter introduces some of the issues surrounding law, environmental protection, and new technologies. Using a series of examples—such as geoengineering, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’)—it examines the relationship between environmental law and technological innovation. First, the chapter asks how well the law governs potential environmental risks posed by new technological development. Secondly, it looks at whether and how environmental law, in its regulation of new technologies, takes account of different forms of knowledge and expertise. Thirdly, it gives insights into the ways in which law can be used to incentivize the design and application of ‘green’ technologies. Finally, building on Ch. 11, it considers the potential environmental liabilities arising from new and emerging technological risks.
Chapter
This chapter examines legal and ethical aspects of assisted reproduction. Topics discussed include infertility; the concept of reproductive autonomy; criticisms of assisted reproduction; regulation of assisted reproductive technologies; criticisms of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990; gamete donation; surrogacy; cloning; and genetic enhancement and eugenics. The chapter explores the extent to which the state should regulate decisions around reproduction or whether they should be left to the decision of the individuals concerned. Some people believe that the interests of children to be born should be taken into account, although there is extensive debates over how this should be done.
Chapter
This chapter examines legal and ethical aspects of assisted reproduction. Topics discussed include infertility; the concept of reproductive autonomy; criticisms of assisted reproduction; regulation of assisted reproductive technologies; criticisms of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990; gamete donation; surrogacy; cloning; and genetic enhancement and eugenics. The chapter explores the extent to which the state should regulate decisions around reproduction or whether they should be left to the decision of the individuals concerned. Some people believe that the interests of children to be born should be taken into account, although there is extensive debates over how this should be done.
Chapter
The topic of privacy has many aspects. In some instances, especially where well-known figures are involved, it relates to the legal ability to stop the bringing of information about their private lives into a more public arena. For most people, it involves the ability to go about everyday life without having details of movements and actions recorded and analysed to form the basis for further actions relating to them. In some cases, this may appear relatively harmless. Most people are familiar with the notion of web advertising targeted by reference to a user’s browsing history but there have been more potentially threatening applications ranging from the use of automated facial recognition systems to monitor activity in public spaces to the oft cited use of Facebook data for political purposes as seen in the 2016 US Presidential election. More and more actions are recorded, processed and used as the basis for action that affects the individual concerned. Whether this is a force for good or ill is something that can be debated. What is clear is that informational surveillance will impact very significantly upon debates as to the nature of the societies that we wish to live in.
Chapter
Justine Pila and Paul L.C. Torremans
This chapter introduces the European law of copyright and related rights with an overview of its basic principles. It then considers the European (EU) statutory framework governing copyright and related rights and the policy agenda of the European Commission on which it is based, including the Commission’s digital single market initiatives. The chapter then concludes with a wider discussion of the EU’s response to the challenges posed by globalization and digital technology. The picture to emerge is one of ever-growing legislative fragmentation off-set by ever-growing substantive harmonisation as a result of thirty years of active EU law- and policy-making, including a large number of policy communications and harmonizing directives, the ratification of several international agreements, and almost daily decisions from the Court of Justice.
Book
Information Technology Law: The Law and Society is the ideal companion for a course of study on information technology law and the ways in which it is evolving in response to rapid technological and social change. The fifth edition of this ground-breaking textbook develops its unique examination of the legal processes and their relationship to the modern ‘information society’. Charting the development of the rapid digitization of society and its impact on established legal principles, Murray examines the challenges faced with enthusiasm and clarity. Following a clearly-defined part structure, the text begins by defining the information society and discussing how it may be regulated, before moving on to explore issues of internet governance, privacy and surveillance, intellectual property and rights, and commerce within the digital sphere. The author’s highly original and thought-provoking approach to the subject also makes it essential reading for researchers, IT professionals, and policy-makers. This fifth edition includes expanded coverage of AI authorship and computer generated works, cryptocurrency, cryptoassets and blockchain technology as well as being significantly expanded to cover developments in defamation law, net neutrality, data protection, and smart contracting.
Chapter
The question ‘what can we control?’ underpins both the information society and the knowledge economy, and represents the maturity of information technology. Most importantly, it signals a transition from a world that saw economic value in terms of atoms to a world which values information in bits. This chapter examines this transition and the role of bits in the information society. It first provides an overview of bits and their place in the digitization process. The chapter then looks at the advent of digital music and other digital goods such as digital video and electronic books. It also considers the shift from rivalrous goods to nonrivalrous goods before concluding with a discussion of the legal challenge of the information society.
Chapter
Ben Bradford and Pete Fussey
This chapter explains the profound implications of digital society on the questions of crime, security, surveillance, and policing. In recent decades, digital technologies brought profound changes to human societies and the way they are governed. The chapter explains that digital processes do more than accelerate the production and availability of information, which highlights the implications of digital society from the abundance of data. The digital revolution has rendered criminological preoccupations more urgent and pressing than ever before. The chapter also provides an overview of the concept of a smart city by considering its criminogenic consequences and its potential for crime prevention and surveillance.
Chapter
This chapter examines online alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options and online dispute resolution (ODR) options. The use of information and communication technology (ICT) in relation to all forms of dispute resolution is a major area of current development. In saving time and money in resolving disputes, ICT has much to offer, especially in relation to lower-value cases, and this is seen in the growing use of online portals and software-based support for dispute resolution. Indeed, software is already used successfully to mimic some negotiation and mediation processes, and this is likely to develop further. ODR comprises systems designed to work online that do not necessarily fit within existing ADR definitions. International and cross-border ODR is now being developed, especially to support e-commerce and deal with lower-value disputes.
Chapter
This chapter considers the relationship between intellectual property rights and competition law. After a brief introduction, it deals in general terms with the application of Article 101 to licences of intellectual property rights. The chapter proceeds to discuss the provisions of Regulation 316/2014, the block exemption for technology transfer agreements. It also considers the application of Article 101 to various other agreements concerning intellectual property rights such as technology pools and settlements of litigation. This is followed by a section on the application of Article 102 to the way in which dominant undertakings exercise their intellectual property rights, including an examination of the controversial subject of refusals to license intellectual property rights which are sometimes found to be abusive. The chapter concludes with a look at the position in UK competition law.
Chapter
This chapter considers the relationship between intellectual property rights and competition law. After a brief introduction, it deals in general terms with the application of Article 101 to licences of intellectual property rights. The chapter proceeds to discuss the provisions of Regulation 316/2014, the block exemption for technology transfer agreements. It also considers the application of Article 101 to various other agreements concerning intellectual property rights such as technology pools and settlements of litigation. This is followed by a section on the application of Article 102 to the way in which dominant undertakings exercise their intellectual property rights, including an examination of the controversial subject of refusals to license intellectual property rights which are sometimes found to be abusive. The chapter concludes with a look at the position in UK competition law.
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