Intellectual Property, Entrepreneurship and Social Justice: From Swords to Ploughshares (Elgar Law and Entrepreneurship series)

'Professor Lateef Mtima and his stellar list of contributors are onto something genuinely new in this important volume; the idea that the 'public interest' goals of the IP system extend beyond encouraging innovation, to take in a wide range of other social justice interests: promoting economic participation by excluded groups, helping to assure distributional fairness, and enabling significant gestures of cultural preservation. The range of specific topics covered is impressive, and their presentation is at once rigorous and accessible to non-specialist readers. This transformational collection is an essential item for any contemporary IP bookshelf.'- Peter Jaszi, American University Law School, US'While many have articulated needs of particular communities which they argue intellectual property should be shaped to serve, few have attempted to flesh out a theory under which intellectual property doctrine should be built from the ground up to promote social justice. Lateef Mtima, a pioneer in that endeavor, has now edited a collection of essays that provides crucial additional perspectives - perspectives that appropriately focus on empowerment and entrepreneurship. These essays are essential reading for everyone who has ever wondered whether and how intellectual property should respond to an unequal world.'- Robert Brauneis, The George Washington University, USIn the Information Age, historically marginalized groups and developing nations continue to strive for socio-economic empowerment within the global community. Their ultimate success largely depends upon their ability to develop, protect, and exploit their greatest natural resource: intellectual property.Through an exploration of the techniques used in social entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Entrepreneurship and Social Justice provides a framework by which historically marginalized communities and developing nations can cooperate with the developed world to establish a socially cohesive global intellectual property order. The knowledgeable contributors discuss, in four parts, topics surrounding entrepreneurship and empowerment, education and advocacy, engagement and activism and, finally, commencement.Experts in the field, scholars, law professors and students of intellectual property, human rights and international trade and development will find this book to be both thought-provoking and a valuable resource.Contributors: D.M. Conway, S. Ghosh, L.J. Gibbons, M. Gollin, R.S. Heimes, P. Lyfoung, A. McGeehan, C. McNulty, L. Mtima, L.E. Mulraine, J.R. Whitman, V. Rawlston Wilson, P.K. Yu,