CANADIAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: THE POLITICS OF INNOVATING INSTITUTIONS AND INTERESTS by G. Bruce Doern and Markus Sharaput. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000. 210pp. Cloth $55.00. ISBN: 0-8020-4473-5. Paper $19.95. ISBN: 0-8020-8255-6

Reviewed by Mark Perry, Faculty of Law and Department of Computer Science, the University of Western Ontario. Email: mperry@julian.uwo.ca

As an academic specialising in intellectual property (IP) issues, on reading the introduction of this book the reviewer saw the promise of cross-disciplinary insight into the institutions in Canada that have a directi mpact on IP policy. The authors approach the IP regime from the perspective of political science and public administration and take a "middle level" institutional analysis of the regulatory and operational bodies in Canada. From the perspective of a lawyer it must be noted that this work is at level of large granularity, particularly when the work refers to the doctrines of IP law.

The authors have broken the book into two parts. Part One "IP Institutions and Policy: Setting the Context." This part takes four chapters and seventy pages of the work. It starts with a chapter giving an overview of the area but restricting the discussion to the "four elements of intellectual policy" defined by statute. Those discussed are patent, trademark, copyright, and industrial design. The book avoids other areas governed by statute, such as integrated circuits, plant-breeders rights, and common law IP rights such as passing off and confidential information. This section is followed by a brief introduction to the institutions and interests that are involved in IP in Canada. The World Trade Organisation, for example, receives half a page of coverage. The next chapter provides a historical perspective on IP development up to the 1970s. The third chapter, "IP, Industrial Policy and Innovation in the Knowledge Economy" does provide some more substantial matterand shows the influence of controversial issues on policy. The final chapter in this part looks at global politics and their influence on internal (Canadian) IP policy, in particular the influence of the United States.

Part Two of the book, "Canadian IP Institutions in Action in a Global Economy," starts with a closer look at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). It presents an interesting discussion of the changing outlook of CIPO, which is taking a more active role as a client orientated and information disseminatory institution. This is followed by discussion on the recent evolution of copyright legislation and collective agencies such as CANCOPY. The seventh chapter is devoted primarily to the "protection role" of other interests in IP policy, such as big business and the IP professions. Chapter nine discusses the dissemination role in IP, including the making available of current information, new kinds of useful information, and making others aware of IP rights. The final chapter provides a summary of the book.

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The intended readership of this text is not clear, but perhaps it is meant as a general audience work. IP lawyers would undoubtedly have much to learn from the points raised, but in general, most of these points are covered so briefly that they would be of little value. Perhaps politics or administration students who did not have a background in IP would find this work a good starter to segue them into deeper IP issues. This is not a work that is propounding a particular thesis. Perhaps this was intended to be a book that points out some of the issues and the problem areas, the policy and the institutions involved to give a "heads up" for the reader. Some of the links made in the text are leaps of faith. For example, in the discussion of the Harvard Mouse case, which involved the patenting of transgenic non-human mammals (it should be noted that the book puts the claim as being for "transgenic animals," which is slightly different), the authors take a leap from giving the view of the Patent Commissioner that the there was a lack of sufficient control to grant a patent, to broad statement. They then conclude, "As the Harvard Mouse case shows, IP issues regarding higher life forms are related to the larger regulation of biotechnology." The case does indeed illustrate this, but it is not shown in the text. Unfortunately, this discussion on the Harvard Mouse patent case is mostly redundant because of the Court of Appeal decision in August 2000 (the Federal Court decision of 1998 is not mentioned in the text), which allowed the patent. However, some of the issues may re-emerge if the Supreme Court hears the case.

Other problems that this reviewer discovered included the taking functional aspects of bodies such as CIPO (such as IP education) and categorising them as a "dissemination role," when earlier dissemination was placed as the kingpin of the "trade-off" forming the basis of IP. Also, the authors' illustration of problems of the extent and nature of piracy has become recently outdated because of the telecommunications revolution and the CD recorder. Although this book identifies the various agencies and gives an overview looks at the various interactions and interrelationships with other units, it is still hard to keep track of which agency performs which function and how this fits into the scheme (if there is such a thing) of IP institutions in Canada. It would be beneficial within such a work as this to have included some graphical representation of these relationships to give the reader an "at-a-glance" picture of the Canadian institutions.

Overall, the book reads like an introduction to a much larger work. It provided an outline and background scenario to the roles of the various groups that influence IP in Canada, but with minimum discussion at a deep level. This is clearly not a book for IP lawyers; there is probably too much overhead of basic legal material to make it worth the read. Some of the basic tenets of IP are introduced, but given the complexity of the subject matter, and the brevity of the work, greater detail is not possible. Such is often the dilemma facing all authors of works that address a highly specialised field from an "external" viewpoint, how much of the fundamentals of the area should be covered in the work. However, undoubtedly the approach of the authors to IP should be given more consideration by legal academics and practitioners and not only by those in the disciplines of politics and public administration. There is value in a work such as this. Despite the shortcomings of CANADIAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, some readers may find it a

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useful starting point for understanding the role of IP and its institutions in Canada.

Copyright 2000 by the author.