Bouche P.M. Nanotechnology. Legal Aspects

Boca Raton: CRC Press. – 2008. – 273 p. (Perspectives in nanotechnology) This book provides an analysis of some of the legal issues that surround nanotechnology. At its most fundamental level, the recognized purpose of laws in society is to control people’s behavior. The manner in which laws affect such control varies depending on circumstances and may sometimes be manifested as incentives designed to encourage people to engage in activity that society views as beneficial. The converse of such an approach is realized in laws whose purpose is instead to punish those who engage in activity that society deems unacceptable or otherwise undesirable. This book is organized in three parts that address different portions of this legal spectrum. The first part, Protection, describes mechanisms by which creative and inventive parties may obtain control over their developments, particularly in a manner that allows those developments to be exploited for financial gain. This first part discusses how developers of nanotechnology products may obtain and enforce patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. The second part, Regulation, provides an overview of some of the existing regulatory bodies that will impact the practical use of nanotechnology. By no means are all bodies that could potentially regulate nanotechnology discussed in this section; rather the section uses illustrations of a number of different regulations to demonstrate different kinds of approaches that might be taken in regulating nanotechnology. The final part of the book, Liability, focuses on a variety of different legal doctrines that may be used to hold parties responsible for their actions. While the greatest bulk of that part addresses negligence and product liability doctrines that have their basis in civil law, some discussion is also provided of the potential impact of criminal-law principles to nanotechnology.Protection
Patents
Copyrights
Integrated Circuit Topographies
Trade Secrets
Ownership of Nanotech Intellectual Property
Regulation
Delegation of Power to Agencies
Examples of Regulation of Nanotechnology
Political and Judicial Control over Agency Action
LiabilityCivil Liability
Criminal Liability
Nanotechnology
Discussion