Intellectual Property and Private International Law - book review

Abstract

A marriage between intellectual property and private international law seems to have instant status as an 'odd couple'. Private international law has for some time been the poor man of the legal academy, given its tendency to meander between relentless doctrinalism and chaotic theorisation. At a conference recently, one of us was asked what areas he researched; when conflicts was mentioned, the response was 'Why do you bother?'. Intellec­tual property, however, is the discipline of the hour, uniquely emblematic of the information age. It has attracted the attention of every grouping of scholars, from post-structuralists to lawyer-economists. One is therefore inclined to wonder why, in the preface of this vast work, its authors assert that their aim is to address the crossover of these areas by 'emphasis[ing] ... private international law rather than ... intellectual property law' (p vii). Surely that's the wrong way around? The most obvious reason for such an enterprise and such emphasis is simply the vacuum in the conflicts literature. Even the most comprehensive treatises never accord intellectual property subjects much more than a few pages. This book certainly bridges this gap in a thorough, detailed way. Its arrival should be greeted with acclaim by scholars and practitioners.