的非物质的

A Conflict-Based Approach to Intellectual Rights

Niels van Dijk, Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Group on Law, Science, Technology & Society, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

This book applies a novel conflict-based approach to the notions of ‘idea’, ‘concept’, ‘invention’ and ‘immateriality’ in the legal regime of intellectual property rights by turning to the adversarial legal practices in which they occur. In doing so, it provides extensive ethnographies of the courts and law firms, and tackles classical questions in legal doctrine about the immaterial nature of intellectual property rights from a thoroughly new perspective.

‘The book successfully investigates different ideological movements in the domain of intellectual property and explains its interaction with legal practice to form the grounds of immaterial. It is lucidly written with relevant illustrations, citations and case law. The value of the book resides in providing the minute details of legal becoming of an item from ideological genesis to actual practice. The legal proceedings in firms and courts are not a new revelation but establishing their connection to philosophy and legal theory in the present contextual setting provides fresh insights. The book also highlights the potential areas of conflicts and uncertainties in legal philosophy and practice in the domain of intellectual property and sets a stage for philosophers, legal scholars and practitioners to explore new ways of interaction. The book is highly recommended to philosophers, legal practitioners, research scholars and readers with a keen interest in law and philosophy in the domain of intellectual property rights.’
– Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice

‘Niels van Dijk’s exploration of the way legal practitioners answer traditional philosophical questions such as “what is an idea?” is deeply inspirational. It leaves no place for rivalry between law and philosophy, but engages a mutual becoming in which each practice retains, or even rediscovers its vital thrust. The book will move readers, whether they are philosophers or legal practitioners, to a deeper appreciation of the capacity of their respective practice to invent its own questions and define its own problems.’
– Isabelle Stengers, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium