Fifteen Eighty Four

What is common in the production of an earring from broken porcelain cups and plates, an evening dress form curtains, a handbag from the cassettes of audio tapes, a lampshade out of discarded Coca Cola glass bottles, or to decorate jackets with worn but functional scarves? All of these activities represent a form of the phenomenon regularly called as ‘upcycling’. In our newly published edited volume, we defined upcycling as transformative – recontextualized or repurposed – recycling and redistribution of tangible copies of works or goods that are protected by some form of intellectual property law. Importantly, upcycling might conflict with some form of intellectual property law. Why does it matter that the new item visibly bears a protected trademark, incorporates a copyrighted expression or resembles a registered or unregistered design? Would it make a difference if such uses were carried out on a commercial basis, done for mere sentimental purposes or made out of sustainability-oriented consciousness? How shall intellectual property rightholders, upcyclers, the society and the states (the ‘legal system’) approach these and many more similar questions?

This is what the world’s first ever research handbook on the intersections of intellectual property law and upcycling highlights. Twenty-two carefully curated chapters discover all relevant aspects of this phenomenon. The chapters are organised in four main parts. The first is dedicated to the doctrine and policy aspects of upcycling. Part II includes a comprehensive analysis of upcycling under all major branches of intellectual property law. Part III is organized on a ‘spatial’ basis. It offers another comprehensive analysis of upcycling, but this time approached on the basis of each individual continent of the globe. Finally, to strengthen the interdisciplinary nature of the scope and the analysis, Part IV takes a gradual ‘zooming out’ from classic intellectual property law, and reviews upcycling through the lenses of the digital domain, the right to repair movement, economics, psychology, and it also offers insights into the findings of a broad empirical research on transformative reuses.

We believe that humankind is at a policy momentum with respect to sustainability. IP law might have a significant role in preserving the earth a liveable environment, upkeeping human wellbeing, managing the global environmental crisis, and eliminating technological metabolism. Sustainability and IP co-exist parallel and overlap to a certain degree. Nevertheless, they are distinct concepts and their general goals are far from each other. The ultimate paradox is that no sustainability might be reached without incentivizing the creation and profit-oriented rewarding mechanisms. Unfortunately, the current paradigm of IP law is not focusing on sustainability – neither on normative, nor on policy levels. Policymakers shall therefore pay closer attention to and shall not hinder (and, if possible, even prioritize) green solutions to maximize the circular economy’s positive effects on our society’s survival.

The Cambridge Handbook of Intellectual Property and Upcycling can function as the starting point and the benchmark for any future research related to environmentally conscious transformative activities in the domain of law, especially intellectual property law and beyond.