Revisiting Territoriality in Intellectual Property Law: Ten Years Later

Abstract

This article revisits the central findings of my 2016 doctoral dissertation, Territoriality in Intellectual Property Law, which problematized the territoriality principle in intellectual property law and its effect on private international law, by comparing the legal systems of the European Union and the United States. The dissertation found that while the international IP conventions reinforced the territoriality principle, they do not exhaustively define or localize the restricted acts or lay down any specific rules of private international law. This makes it possible for States to flexibly pinpoint the act of infringement and design their rules on private international law to achieve economic, social and cultural policy goals within the framework of their legal systems and legal traditions.

Despite the ten years that have passed since the dissertation was published, the topic itself and the dissertation’s underlying findings remain relevant today. The territoriality principle continues to evolve as States reinterpret it to advance a range of policy objectives. Looking forward, a unilateral pursuit of national (and regional) policy objectives is not sustainable and solutions should be found at the international level.