UNCITRAL Guide: the Supplement on Security Rights in IP

The UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions: Supplement on Security Rights in Intellectual Property was officially released this month. Long-term readers of this weblog will need no reminder as to its provenance, this the launch of IP Finance was a response to an earlier stage of the UNCITRAL initiative which caught the IP communities badly unprepared. New readers can catch up on the history of this Guide by keying 'UNCITRAL' as a search term in the little box at the top left-hand corner of the IP Finance home page.

According to the United Nations, which is the publisher of this Guide,

"The overall objective of the UNCITRAL Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions ... is to promote low-cost credit by enhancing the availability of secured credit. In line with this objective, the Supplement on Security Rights in Intellectual Property ... is intended to make credit more available and at a lower cost to intellectual property owners and other intellectual property rights holders, thus enhancing the value of intellectual property rights as security for credit. The Supplement, however, seeks to achieve that objective without interfering with fundamental policies of law relating to intellectual property".

If you want to buy your own copy, the ISBN is 13: 9789210547406. You can pick it up from the UN's online bookshop for US$15. In keeping with the UN's new discount structure, effective 1 July 2011, purchasers from a long list of developing countries and territories are eligible for a 50% discount, making the price US$7.50. Or if you key the Guide's title into your search engine, your top search search result will be the Guide itself, which you can access and enjoy to your heart's content at no charge whatsoever.