Party Autonomy In International Property Law

Party autonomy is a subject that is traditionally rejected in the field of property law. Legal systems throughout Europe and most parts of the world still found their property law on the lex situs. This point of view, however, is challenged more and more. The immense intensification of worldwide trade may have turned boundaries between countries into barriers in a world that needs flexibility. This book deals with important questions concerning this problem, including: What happens to property rights related to movables and claims when borders are crossed? Do we recognize a German retention of title or an American security right? Which law will apply: the law of the country of origin, the lex situs or the law of the country of destination? How does legislation concerning financial instruments relate to the problem, and what is it all worth in insolvency situations?

Provides an unprecedented historical, theoretical and comparative analysis and appraisal of party autonomy in private international law. These issues are of great practical importance to any lawyer dealing with cross-border legal relationships, and great theoretical importance to a wide range of scholars interested in law and globalisation.

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.

This is a carefully structured, practice-orientated textbook. The strong comparative component provides a thought-provoking international perspective, while at the same time allowing readers to gain unique insights into international commercial litigation in English courts.

This book explores the source and extent of the right of parties to an international contract to make appropriate arrangements for the determination of their legal relationship, primarily by selecting the applicable law, but also by selecting the judicial or arbitral forum. The book focuses on the legal systems of the United States, the Commonwealth jurisdictions and the civil law countries of western and central Europe. This fascinating analysis will be welcomed by practitioners and scholars alike.

Co-published by WIPO and the Hague Conference on Private International Law, this guide is a pragmatic tool, written by judges, for judges, examining how private international law operates in intellectual property (IP) matters. Using illustrative references to selected international and regional instruments and national laws, the guide aims to help judges apply the laws of their own jurisdiction, supported by an awareness of key issues concerning jurisdiction of the courts, applicable law, the recognition and enforcement of judgments, and judicial cooperation in cross-border IP disputes.

This book explores the theory and practice of judicial jurisdiction within the field of private international law. It offers a revised look at values justifying the power of courts to hear and decide cross-border disputes, and demonstrates that a re-conceptualisation of jurisdiction is needed. Rather than deriving from territorial power of states, jurisdiction in civil and commercial cross-border matters ought to be driven by party autonomy. This autonomy can be limited by certain considerations of equality and critical state sovereign interests. The book applies this normative view to the existing rules of jurisdiction in the European Union and the Russian Federation. These regimes are chosen due to their unique positions towards values in private international law and contrasting societal norms that generate and accommodate these values. Notwithstanding disparate cultural and political ideas, these regimes reveal a surprising level of consistency when it comes to enforcement of party autonomy. There is, nevertheless, room for improvement. The book demonstrates to scholars, policy makers and lawmakers that jurisdiction should be re-centred around the interests of private actors, and proposes ways to improve the current rules.