Legal Linguistics and Intellectual Property Law: A Critical Review of Calboli’s and Montagnani’s Handbook of Intellectual Property Research: Lenses, Methods, and Perspectives (Oxford University Press 2021)

• Published in: International journal for the semiotics of law = Revue internationale de sémiotique juridique 2025, Vol.38 (1), p.307-326
• Main Author: Green, Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied Linguistics; English Book Review; Fundamentals of Law; Law; Law and Criminolgy; Legal History; Philosophy of Law; Theories of Law
• ISSN: 0952-8059; 1572-8722
• DOI: 10.1007/s11196-024-10218-z

This review presents a critical reading of Calboli's and Montagnani's Handbook of Intellectual Property Research from the perspective of Applied Legal Linguistics (ALL). It first identifies the lack of discussion from the perspective of applied legal linguistics (ALL), legal semiotics, and discourse analysis, and points out the strong connection between intellectual property (IP) law and language. I seek to convey my insight how legal linguistics is not merely auxiliary but is, in fact, very much intertwined with real-world legal outcomes in IP law. The review focuses on both internal and external questions in IP law, and particularly engages with the question of how language use in various legal contexts shapes the application of IP law. The article presents the four parts of the handbook, each of which examines the intersections of IP law with other areas of inquiry. It is found that the way the handbook’s contents are structurally arranged is likely to help readers maneuver successfully between quite different legal, humanistic, social science, and pluralistic perspectives on IP law. This allows for both a broad overview and targeted research depending on readers’ focus or interest. Part I discusses interactions between IP law and other legal areas, such as international law, comparative law, contract law, tort law, and criminal law, inter alia, and points towards the methodological diversity and the interconnectedness of these areas of legal study. Part II then explores the relationship between IP and the humanities, including but not limited to cultural heritage, history, and philosophy. Part III then shifts focus to empirical social sciences and covers, inter alia, economics, ethnography, and technological analysis. It is shown that data-driven research can deepen one’s understanding of IP law. Finally, Part IV focuses on pluralism, which, amongst other things, includes sustainable development, human rights, and critical theories, such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) and feminist legal theory, which link the role of IP to the notions of social justice and other critical concerns.