An excellent addition to the field

Abstract

There are few authoritative, scholarly works on the specific subject of the interplay between EU law and IP law that would appeal equally to academics and practitioners, but this is certainly one of them. EU Intellectual Property Law is a major work. All of the main aspects of EU IP law are covered in detail including copyright and related rights, patents and plant variety rights, trade marks, industrial design rights, semiconductor chip topographies and geographical indications, as well as issues surrounding unfair competition. The book is also tremendously readable; the prose is clear and precise. Given the fact that the relationship between EU law and IP law is fragmented to say the least, this is no small achievement on the part of the author. All the major EU treaty articles and legislative provisions are included within the work, and comprehensive analysis is undertaken of the relevant European Court of Justice (ECJ) and Court of First Instance (CFI: now renamed the General Court) case law in each specific area. It is helpful that this book contains all of the relevant EU legal provisions, as this greatly aids the reader in exploring the legal context of the various ECJ/CFI decisions. The issue of harmonization of IP across the EU member states, a topic which has proven so controversial in the context of copyright law in the wake of the ECJ decision in Infopaq International v Danske Dagblades Forening (C-5/08), is examined with respect to all relevant elements of IP law. Issues of tremendous complexity, such as the interplay between the national and community forms of trade mark registration, and the fragmentary nature of harmonization in the area of patent law, are discussed here with great clarity of expression. Importantly, the book also explores the matter of ‘horizontal’ enforcement of IP, an issue which is bound to have even greater significance in the years to come.