INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: PARALLEL CHOICE OF LAW RULES

Extract

IN a previous article it was contended that for the purpose of the conflict of laws the structure of immaterial property law (which term is used here to include patents and the like) is exceptional. Due to its privileged character accorded by the sovereign local authority it is territorial in the dual sense that such laws are strictly confined in their operation to their country of origin and that within that territory the application of foreign immaterial property law is excluded by its inherent limitation. In English and Commonwealth law this insight was concealed until recently by the assertion that the courts could only exercise jurisdiction in respect of claims based on their own national intellectual property law. Jurisdiction was thus functionally linked to the exclusive sphere of the applicable law.