Studies in Industrial Property and Copyright Law – serie

The relationship between intellectual property and private international law is a fascinating and multi-faceted one. Both fields are inherently international, but it is the exponential increase in conflicts involving trans-border elements, in a world characterised by global trade and borderless communication structures, that has, in modern times, drawn the two disciplines close. The essays contained in this book, first presented at a Symposium in Munich, set out possible visions for a future system of international and regional jurisdiction and applicable law that is better adapted to the increasingly supranational character of IP rights. A second feature of the book is its treatment of 'harmonisation' of choice-of-law issues.Framed by these two elements - international jurisdiction on the one hand and perspectives for harmonised choice of law rules in an international context on the other - specific European themes are also addressed; jurisdiction, the establishment of a European judiciary in the patent field, the relationship between regional (European) systems and an international jurisdiction convention, and the recent proposal for a Regulation on applicable law in non-contractual relationships (Rome II).

This book, arising from the collaboration between the IEEM in Macao and the Max Planck Institute in Munich, provides up-to-date information on developments in global intellectual property law and policy and their impact on regional economic and cultural development. The first two parts of the book give broad coverage to the protection of relative newcomers to the field of international intellectual property: cultural heritage and geographical indications. The third part deals with issues of enforcement which have become a major point of interest since the substantive intellectual property rules were put in place. Particular emphasis is given to enforcement systems in Asia, and to the subject matter of criminal enforcement that in many parts of the world is considered an important tool of effective protection. The final part of the book deals with the issue of multiple protection and overprotection, now a growing issue in IP law.

The relationship between intellectual property and private international law is a fascinating and multi-faceted one. Both fields are inherently international, but it is the exponential increase in conflicts involving trans-border elements, in a world characterised by global trade and borderless communication structures, that has, in modern times, drawn the two disciplines close. The essays contained in this book, first presented at a Symposium in Munich, set out possible visions for a future system of international and regional jurisdiction and applicable law that is better adapted to the increasingly supranational character of IP rights. A second feature of the book is its treatment of ''harmonisation'' of choice-of-law issues. Framed by these two elements - international jurisdiction on the one hand and perspectives for harmonised choice of law rules in an international context on the other - specific European themes are also addressed; jurisdiction, the establishment of a European judiciary in the patent field, the relationship between regional (European) systems and an international jurisdiction convention, and the recent proposal for a Regulation on applicable law in non-contractual relationships (Rome II).

Patent infringement procedures are an instrument whereby the patentee defends his protected invention against unlawful use by a third party (the alleged infringer). The difficulty is that the patent is no solid object whose damage can be easily detected; it belongs to that group of rights whose infringement is not easy to determine. The patent is a right described by words, and those words, written into a claim, are so complicated that laymen and lawyers alike fail to understand them. This is the special feature which distinguishes the patent right. This book consists of a series of country reports in which expert patent attorneys describe the patent infringement procedures in their jurisdiction. Since the first edition of this book was published in 2000, developments in the field of patent enforcement have been significant and required a major rewriting of all the seven original contributions (the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Japan and the US): more than 100 decisions have been added. For the second edition, another eight countries have been included: three from Eastern Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary), two from Asia (China and Korea), two from Latin America (Argentina and Brazil), and one from Europe (Switzerland) and there is a new chapter by Dieter Stauder on European issues of patent enforcement: cross-border litigation, cross-border assistance in obtaining evidence, and the new European Enforcement Directive.

This book, arising from the collaboration between the IEEM in Macao and the Max Planck Institute in Munich, provides up-to-date information on developments in global intellectual property law and policy and their impact on regional economic and cultural development. The first two parts of the book give broad coverage to the protection of relative newcomers to the field of international intellectual property: cultural heritage and geographical indications. The third part deals with issues of enforcement which have become a major point of interest since the substantive intellectual property rules were put in place. Particular emphasis is given to enforcement systems in Asia, and to the subject matter of criminal enforcement that in many parts of the world is considered an important tool of effective protection. The final part of the book deals with the issue of multiple protection and overprotection, now a growing issue in IP law.