Readers may be interested in the new (seventh) edition of Guidebook to Intellectual Property, written by Sir Robin Jacob, Matthew Fisher and Lynne Chave.

This 250-page book is a very good introduction to IP for law students, general readers and business people. It presents the key principles of IP in an accessible format, using lots of examples and case studies to show how systems work in real life, and spurning footnotes.

As the authors say in the preface: “This is intended to be more like a story book than a reference work. What we want is the reader to come away with a good idea of how IP works in practice.”

The book is primarily for readers in the UK, as it explains UK laws, procedures and cases. However, there are also chapters on EU and international aspects.

The short chapters are organised into five main parts: (1) Introduction; (2) Protecting the Product (including patents and industrial designs); (3) Trade Marks, Passing Off and Unfair Competition (including collective and certification marks, geographical indications, passing off and malicious falsehood); (4) Copyright and Related Rights; and (5) Miscellaneous Matters (including the criminal law and customs seizures, confidence and privacy, database rights, exhaustion and competition law).

The authors are all members of University College London. The book is published by Hart Publishing, and the publishers have kindly offered Class 46 readers a 20% discount on the retail price, bringing it down from £28.99 to £23.19.

To order with your discount simply visit www.bloomsbury.com and use the code GLR T5TUK at the checkout.