Publication: Intellectual Property and Private International Law

Happy New Year to everybody. I have not posted in a while, but am now freed from the shackles of teaching (well, mostly) for this year, and so can devote myself to conflictoflaws.net once again (not, I’m sure, that anyone noticed my absence, given the dedication of my co-editors).

In any event, a few new publications dropped into my pigeon-hole in late 2009, and here’s the first: Intellectual Property and Private International Law, edited by Stefan Leible and Angsar Ohly (Mohr Siebeck, 2009). The blurb:

The relationship between intellectual property law and private international law has not always been an easy one. To many intellectual property lawyers, private international law seems like an esoteric and complicated field of law with many potential pitfalls. Hence there is a tendency to look for simple, straightforward rules such as the principle of territoriality and the lex loci protectionis rule and to solve more complex issues such as the collision of signs on the internet within substantive law. Private international lawyers, on the other hand, resent the territorial segmentation which results from the application of both principles. The fact that both fields of law are specialist matters, difficult to penetrate for outsiders, has complicated the discourse between both legal disciplines. Nevertheless there is a growing awareness that choice of law issues in this field really matter. The importance of intellectual property rights in a knowledge-based economy is increasing steadily. At the same time, the traditional principles governing the choice of law in intellectual property disputes have come under challenge in a globalized world dominated by internet communication. Eminent American und European scholars of both fields discussed different topics concerning the relationship between intellectual property law and private international law at the Bayreuth Conference “Intellectual Property and Private International Law” (4/5 April 2008). This volume comprises the papers which were presented.

ISBN 978-3-16-150055-8. Price: € 59.00. Purchase it direct from the Mohr website.