The role of comparative legal analysis in intellectual property law: From good to great?
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abstract
It is certainly old news that we live in a globally interconnected world where we can reach friends and colleagues around the planet with the touch of a computer key. We can access all types of information, including legislation, case law, and academic scholarship from anywhere and in multiple formats. This ability to interconnect, or more precisely to Internet-connect, has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. We can now participate in meetings and conferences remotely, and watch events that we could not attend in person at our convenience. Scholars can easily share their scholarship and works-in-progress with colleagues all over the world, and the possibility to follow and participate in academic, or any other type of debate has dramatically increased with the proliferation of blogs, virtual symposia, and other forms of multimedia. Because of this increasing globalization and Internet connectivity, it would seem logical that comparative law would take an even more crucial role as part of the legal debate. The possibility to access relevant information via legal databases, research networks, and open access platforms, along with the increased ability to directly or virtually meet academics and legal experts around the world, undoubtedly facilitates the gathering of data and information about any specific topic in multiple jurisdictions. Somewhat surprisingly, however, the role of comparative law remains unclear, and the importance attributed to comparative legal analysis seems to vary across different countries and among legal scholars.
