The internet has transformed creative and innovative pursuits for economic gain or otherwise. Yet flow-on complications around intellectual property (IP) law and related regulation have not taken full advantage of the benefits offered by the internet: collective creativity, information sharing, modification and additions to information and copyright works.

Historically human and economic development have shaped IP rights, and regulation around the internet and patented rights of authors to their creativity should be no different. The essays collected in Intellectual Property and the Internet address this digital space where human and economic goals both meet and collide in unprecedented ways.