ABSTRACT
Put in simple terms, law is a social science discipline concerned with the body of rules, whether proceeding from formal enactment or from custom, that a particular state or community recognises as binding on its members or subjects. Typically, these rules regulate the conduct of the state with respect to its members, and the conduct of the members with respect to the state and to each other. The conduct so regulated is extremely wide, and includes the production and exploitation of the products of the human intellect (“intellectual property”). Specific rules regulating the production and exploitation of intellectual property have been part of the laws of nations for many centuries. Rules governing exclusive entitlements to inventions, for example, have existed in England since the mid-sixteenth century (Dent 2006). By the end of the twentieth century, almost every nation-state in the world had detailed intellectual property laws of common form and content, governed by international treaties.
