The relationship between intellectual property and private international law has always been a complex one. The concept of national treatment in the Paris Convention 1883 and the Berne Convention 1886 result in a territorial approach in intellectual property. This country by country approach may work well from a private international law perspective when there is only one (or two) countries, and intellectual property rights in those countries, involved, but it creates series issues when there is e.g. infringement of intellectual property rights in multiple countries or when there are multiple defendants/alleged infringers involved.

Nowadays intellectual property rights are exploited across borders rather than country by country and the ubiquitous nature of the internet stands in sharp contrast with the territorial approach of intellectual property. This module will look at the issues involved when we have to deal with jurisdiction and conflict of laws on the internet under the current system of private international law in the EU and it will make suggestions for improvement on the basis of the CLIP Principles.