A Critical Guide to Intellectual Property
Edited by Mat Callahan and Jim Rogers
Published 15 October 2017
Zed Books
- The first book to provide a radical critique of IP, and its role in the battleground between capital and the commons
- Covers digital piracy, open source software movements, agribusiness and pharmaceutical industries
- Explores the history of IP under Soviet regimes
We are often told that intellectual property (IP) and the laws upholding it play a foundational role in our society, but its political and ideological dimensions have rarely been understood outside of specialist circles. This collection cuts through the legal jargon that so often surrounds IP, to provide both a comprehensive history and analysis that explores the corporate interests that shape its conception and the movements that are developing alternatives.
As the nature of industry changes, we might ask: what are the wider implications of the concept of IP, be it for agribusiness and pharmaceutical companies or the film and music industries? Has IP law has been used to safeguard and assert the ownership of ideas and creativity, or is it an essential foundation of our culture?
Today, with mounting challenges from the growth of free software and open source movements, this collection provides an accessible and alternative guide to IP, exploring its significance within the wider struggle between capital and the commons.
Jim Rogers is a lecturer at the School of Communications, Dublin City University. His first book is The Death and Life of the Music Industry in the Digital Age (2013).
Mat Callahan is a musician, author, and member of the radical artists’ collective Komotion International. His previous books include Sex, Death and the Angry Young Man (1993) and The Trouble With Music (2005).
For more information or to request a review copy please contact Laurence Radford
+44 (0)20 3752 5834 | laurence.radford@zedbooks.net
Laurence Radford
Director — Communications
