Willis, Mike --- "Review of Jill McKeough and Andrew Stewart Intellectual Property in Australia" [1998] MurdochUeJlLaw 7; (1998) 5(1) Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law

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Review of Jill McKeough and Andrew Stewart Intellectual Property in Australia, 2nd Edition, (Sydney: Butterworths, 1997)

Author:	Mike Willis
Issue:	Volume 5, Number 1 (March 1998)

1. Producing a general text on intellectual property law, for me, conjures up an image of a cat chasing its tail. Just as one reaches a point where it looks safe to pause for breath from the hectic pace of having to make suitable reforms in the law along comes the need to implement more of them. Some no doubt would hold that such are the challenges to law reform posed by the relentless pace of technological developments.


2. The gap between the first edition of Intellectual Property in Australia and this one has been six years and the authors themselves acknowledge that much has happened in the field of intellectual property since then. This is almost certainly an understatement. The publisher's own information sheet has a reference to the massive changes in intellectual property law, which have taken place in recent years.


3. Befitting a text pitched primarily at a market of both undergraduate and postgraduate students, all aspects of intellectual property law are comprehensively covered and in a concise and very readable fashion. Schematically, the book consists of six Parts commencing with a useful introduction, which gives an overview of intellectual property examining several policy issues as well as the steps necessary to enforce intellectual property rights. Part II looks at how notions of confidentiality are used to protect information. Next comes an exploration of Copyright and the system for registering Designs and the specific issues raised by computer technology. Part IV examines Patents including a chapter devoted to questions raised by biotechnology and plant varieties legislation. Mechanisms for protecting business/commercial reputation against misappropriation are the subject of Part V. Finally, Part VI considers the international aspects of intellectual property protection as well as the commercial strategies and transactions employed to exploit the various property rights.


4. Specifically this new edition takes account of recent judicial pronouncements, two new Trade Marks Acts (one of which was never proclaimed), the coming into operation of the Patents Act 1990, certain draft amendments to the Copyright Act, numerous major reports on the designs system, computer software protection and new communication technologies - to mention a few. Lastly, at an international level, the text devotes a modicum of space to the conclusion of the TRIPs Agreement and an update on the development of international intellectual property conventions.


5. It goes without saying that if one is looking to find detailed extracts of cases then they will not be found here. This is not a casebook nor does it purport to be one. At the same time numerous detailed analyses of some of the more important if not complex cases are usefully provided in sections dealing with computer software and biotechnology, for example. Arguably in this way, the size of this text if not its price, becomes more manageable and it leaves scope for the adventurous and inspired to explore further if they so choose.


6. What I like about this text is the attention it gives to the political, social, economic and global context in which much of intellectual property law has developed and in which, as this text makes clear, it continues to remain enveloped. This especially applies to issues concerning biotechnology (especially gene patenting), computer software protection and digital technology. This makes it an extremely useful text for background reading and getting a better understanding of the breadth of a topic. It is also very readable and sets out the law clearly.


7. A word of precaution, note that there are already sections within the text - copyright being the main one - for which the information provided has to be updated. This is due to the developments which have taken place since the text became available. Such developments include the detail of amendments proposed within both the Copyright Amendment Bill 1997 and the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill 1997 and the recently released Discussion Paper on Copyright Reform and the Digital Agenda. However, this appears less the fault of the authors and more that of the cat.


8. The text retails at $75.00 and is published by Butterworths.

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