Nobody denies that the traditional territorial approach to copyright and other intellectual property rights has come under pressure. Yet it persists. Faced with the need to determine the applicable law in cross-border cases, lawyers everywhere wrestle with the implications of the territorial nature of copyright and related rights.
In this book Mireille van Eechoud clears the way to the formulation of conflict rules that reflect the purpose of copyright law- to protect creators and stimulate the production and use of information- without reverting to old-fashioned notions of territoriality. She shows how the applicable law can be determined for four distinct legal avenues of intellectual property law:
Which exclusive rights exist in an intellectual creation and for how long;
Who is considered to own such right;
How can these rights be transferred; and
What continues infringement of copyright and related rights.
Mireille van Eechoud shows how, when each of these questions is approached in the light of the different allocation principles used in modern choice of law, a new clarity begins to emerge that promises in time to build a set of conflict rules well suited to the unprecedented copyright and related rights issues that we find so difficult to resolve today. Her in-depth analysis draws in the classis multilateral conventions and treaties, underlying policies, technological and economic developments, utilitarian grounds versus justice considerations, and issues of infringement in the digital environment.
INFORMATION LAW SERIES 12.
1 Introduction, 1.1 Conflict of Laws Concerns in Intellectual Property
1.2 Subject-matter and Scope of this Study
1.3 Some Words on
Terminology
1.4 Plan
2 Characteristics of the Choice-of-Law Process
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives of Choice of Law
2.3 The
Development of Choice of Law
2.4 Characteristics of the Present Day
Allocation Method
2.5 Conclusions
3 Foreigners in International
Copyright and Related Rights 3.1 Introduction
3.2 Foreign Authors
Prior to The Berne Convention
3.3 The Foreigner in the Berne Convention
3.4 Post-Berne Convention Copyright and Related Rights Treaties
3.5
Conclusions
4 The Choice-of-Law Calibre of Copyright and Related Rights
Treaties 4.1 Introduction
4.2 Lex Fori
4.3 Lex Protectionis
4.4 Lex Originis
4.5 Conclusions
5 The Rationale of Copyright
and Related Rights Law 5.1 Introduction
5.2 Trends in the
Information Markets and Technology
5.3 Legal Characteristics of
Copyright and Related Rights
5.4 Legal Basis of Copyright and Related
Rights
5.5 Policies Underlying Limitations
5.6 Conclusions
6
Conflict Rules for Modem Copyright and Related Rights 6.1 Introduction
6.2 Existence, Scope and Duration
6.3 Initial Ownership
6.4
Transfer of Copyright and Related Rights
6.5 Infringement
6.6
Conclusions
6.7 Effectuating Alternatives to the Lex Protectionis
APPENDICES I Samenvatting
II Abbreviations
III Bibliography
IV Table of cases
V Index
