To a greater or lesser extent, intellectual property exists on a territorial basis, and depends on the individual rules governing each particular legal jurisdiction. To talk of an ‘international patent' or ‘international trade mark' is misleading - what is meant is a series of patents or trade mark registrations in various legal jurisdictions, subject to different intellectual property laws. Such differences may be substantial: for example, an invention may be patentable in one country but not in another.  However, this factor has been eliminated or mitigated by international agreements - for example, see paragraph 2 in Trademarks  with respect to Community Trade Marks. The overall picture which emerges is one of progress towards harmonisation of intellectual property law in the European Union, whilst at the same time there are significant areas where substantive differences, and differences of approach, continue to exist and create potential barriers to international trade

© Davenport Lyons 2003.  All rights reserved

This document reflects the law and practice as at May 2003.  It is general in nature, and does not  purport in any way to be comprehensive  or a substitute for specialist legal advice in individual circumstances.