Upcycling is an emerging green business model that involves transforming broken, old, useless or worn-out products into new items. Despite its importance to the circular economy, upcycling involves certain risks relating to intellectual property (IP) law. This research handbook analyses the meaning and promise of upcycling in a circular economy, as well as the fundamental conceptual elements of this phenomenon. It provides a systematic collection of chapters on the potential relevance of upcycling in all major areas of IP law. It also takes a geographical approach, including six chapters that primarily cover the policy considerations of upcycling on all inhabited continents. Furthermore, it addresses fields of science with either indirect or loose connections to IP and upcycling, such as economic, psychological, and social justice issues. The book supports upcycling at doctrinal, practical, and policy levels, and suggests measures to align the IP system with the objectives of the circular economy.
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This book addresses comprehensively the intellectual property law aspects of upcycling that are vital to the circular economy.
Part I. Doctrine and Policy of Upcycling:
1. A primer to intellectual
property law and upcycling Péter Mezei and Heidi Härkönen;
2. Is there a
fundamental right to upcycling? An analytical approach Daniël Jongsma; Part
II. Upcycling in Various Fields of IP Law:
3. Upcycling, sustainable
creativity and sustainable lifespan: a model for assessing copyright
infringements Taina Pihlajarinne;
4. Upcycling as a design strategy in light
of European design protection Dana Beldiman, Stina Teilmann-Lock and Anna
Tischner;
5. Trademark law and upcycling: tailoring 'Old-Fashioned'
principles Bernardo Calabrese;
6. Upcycling and patents: finding the contours
for social innovation and sustainability Neethu Rajam and Daniel Acquah;
7.
Copyright misuse and upcycling John T. Cross;
8. Marketing of upcycled
products from a perspective of European and German unfair competition law
Jochen Glöckner and Sarah Legner;
9. Traditional knowledge and upcycling
Pablo Fernández Carballo-Calero;
10. Craft geographical indications and the
challenge of upcycling products Pilar Montero García-Noblejas; Part III.
Territorial Policies:
11. The African policy approach to upcycling Daniel
Acquah, Neethu Rajam and Ama Opuku Acquah;
12. Determining the case of
fashion upcycling in Asia: infringement or exception to intellectual property
Gunjan Chawla Arora and Tianxiang He;
13. Fashion Upcycling: the problem of
overlapping intellectual property rights and how to solve it Martin
Senftleben;
14. Upcycling and renewal Shubha Ghosh;
15. Upcycling down under:
innovation, renovation and intellectual property rights in the Pacific region
Jennifer Campion;
16. Can the current IP system foster upcycling in Latin
America? Juan I. Correa and Nicolás Martín Hermida; Part IV. Zooming Out: A
Broader Picture on Upcycling:
17. Just my reimagination, just your
intellectual property Sabine Jacques;
18. A conceptual map of the right to
repair: where upcycling fits in Anthony D. Rosborough;
19. Interpreting the
destruction of goods as a corrective measure for patent infringement to
foster sustainability Mikko Kaunisvaara, Rosa Ballardini and Emmanuel Salami;
20. Laying competition to waste: the economics of resale, recycling, and
upcycling Joost Poort;
21. Behavioural science of upcycling Jarno Tuominen;
22. Empirical perspective: upcycling with branded material through the eyes
of consumers Katarzyna Stasiuk, Anna Tischner, Stina Teilmann-Lock and Dana
Beldiman.
Péter Mezei is professor at the University of Szeged (Hungary), adjunct professor (dosentti) at the University of Turku (Finland), chief researcher at Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania) and professor invité at the Université Jean Moulin Lyon III (France). He coordinates the Comparative Intellectual Property Law LLM of the University of Szeged, and the joint IP LLM of the Technical University of Dresden and University of Szeged on the Szeged side. He focuses on comparative law, and comparative, digital, International and European copyright law. He is a member of the European Copyright Society and the Hungarian Copyright Expert Board. Heidi Härkönen is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Turku Faculty of Law, Finland. She was awarded an honorary Adjunct Professorship in the field of fashion law in 2025. Her research focus is on using law as a tool to shape the fashion industry towards holistic fairness and sustainability. Prior to her law studies, she studied fashion design. She is an active non-commercial fashion designer and an upcycler. She has received numerous awards and nominations for her fashion law research, for example: distinguished early-career researcher award 2022, Finland's nomination for the most promising young Nordic private law scholar 2024.
