A New Book on IP and Social Justice:
Call for Chapter Proposals

Lateef Mtima, Kara Swanson, Trevor Reed, Eds.

Intellectual property legal theorists, pundits, and policy makers increasingly embrace the proposition that IP protection not only supports producer incentives and creative and innovative benefits typically within the commercial sphere. IP protection can also be construed and implemented to produce outcomes that promote social justice. In this vein, a collection of international IP scholars, policy makers, and practitioners collaborated in the recent publication of The Cambridge Handbook of Intellectual Property and Social Justice, which volume undertakes to articulate a discrete theory of IP Social Justice and to explore some of the social benefits that might be gained through its application to the IP ecosystem.

Whereas the Cambridge IP SJ Handbook demonstrates how a social justice approach to IP protection can expand the social capability of the IP legal regime, the anthology further engenders the consideration of a broader, sequential question: beyond supplementing traditional IP theories and rationales, to what extent might IP SJ supplant such prevailing perspectives, towards greater fulfillment of the social function of IP protection to promote human development and wellbeing? As a follow up to the IP SJ Handbook, a new volume will explore this and related questions.

Call for Book Chapter Proposals

Through this call for book chapter proposals, we invite submissions that

(A) consider, compare, contrast, and/or critique the tenets of IP SJ (i) in the context of traditional IP theoretical rationales, such as economic utility, natural rights, and human rights law; and/or (ii) in the context of non-traditional IP theoretical rationales, such as decolonial theory, feminist theory, queer theory, and critical legal/critical race theory.
(B) explore how IP SJ theory might be applied to address specific contemporary IP challenges, particularly those which the prevailing IP rationales have so far proven incapable of addressing, including problems such as addressing TKCE achievement, AI technologies, global warming issues, and other current IP-related concerns.

This call for chapter proposals is intentionally international in scope, both with respect to subject matter and contributors. Prospective contributors are encouraged to contemplate the global future of IP law and policy, whether from the perspective of reinforcement and reform or of revolution and deconstruction, although proposals that use a specific country or region to illuminate the topic would be welcomed. Proposal abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length and submitted by September 1, 2025; for accepted abstracts, the deadline for submitting preliminary chapter drafts of at least 3,000 words (but no more than 10,000 words including footnotes) is December 1, 2025, whereafter contributing authors will be invited to participate in an in-person/hybrid roundtable workshop to discuss drafts. The editors anticipate that final drafts will be limited to 5,000-8,000 words including footnotes and will be due no later than July 1, 2026. Publication of the volume is projected for Fall 2026.

Proposal abstracts or questions should be sent to Victoria Fisher at Victoria.Fisher@iipsj.org.