Information Property

James Grimmelmann

Information Property is:

• A textbook for an intellectual property survey course
• A monograph about the unifying structure of IP law
• The spiritual successor to my earlier coursepack/casebook Patterns of Information Law
• Freely available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license
• Available as a free DRM-free full-color PDF download
• Also available as a perfect-bound black-and-white paperback sold at cost ($25.84)

Information Property is based on the proposition that IP consists of private rights to prevent other people from using information. I have tried to include a wider range of IP fields and related areas than is typical, with coverage including undeveloped ideas, trade secret, utility patent, copyright, trademark, false advertising, geographic indications, right of publicity, design, and design patent. I have imposed a highly standardized structure on most bodies of IP law, dividing them into subject matter, ownership, procedures, similarity, prohibited conduct, secondary liability and defenses – and with further standardized subdivisions within each of these topics. The book contains a few case excerpts, but it is primarily a textbook, designed to show the ball at all times and with an emphasis on conceptual clarity. It contains hundreds of illustrations and dozens of problems to help readers appreciate how IP issues play out in real-world settings.

Download Information Property

First Edition (2025) (72.1 MB)