Property concepts in European copyright law The case of abandonment

Abstract

It has long been arguable that the common law allows tangible, moveable property to be abandoned. On this view, the law allows an owner to voluntarily relinquish his or her rights, such that the thing in question becomes ownerless and returns to (or enters) the commons of unowned things. That abandonment is possible receives strong support from cases involving wrecks and treasure trove, and has been the preferred view amongst academic commentators for many years. It is also a view that has been strengthened in the UK by the 2010 case Robot Arenas Ltd v. Waterfield. In the intellectual property context, the possibility of abandonment is also well established in British Commonwealth jurisprude..