The extremely rich jurisprudence of the Court of Justice to date leaves no doubt as to the great legal challenges posed by the use of new technologies. There is no doubt in my mind that among the areas of law most exposed to these challenges is intellectual property law in its broadest sense.
Never before have we been faced with such an enormous ease of collecting, accessing and transmitting information. Nor have we had to deal with events that are almost completely de-territorialized, where we must ask ourselves how then to reconcile such events with the principle of territoriality. In a similar vein, never before have we, as lawyers, had to face such a complex interplay and potential conflict of various fundamental rights. All this requires us to take a fresh look at the existing legal framework.
I am very pleased that a group of young, yet already experienced and with significant achievements, researchers have taken the initiative to develop selected issues related to contemporary challenges facing intellectual property law. Each of the 16 studies included in this volume is innovative, in-depth and responds to real needs of legal science and practice. They are all related to essential aspects of harmonization of IP law in a Trans-Atlantic context of culture and trade. The majority of these studies concern either copyright, trademark, or patent law, and adopt either a US perspective or an EU one. Some are dedicated to specific theories of IP law or to a focused set of doctrinal problems such as copyright exceptions, remedies, standards-essential patents, or fashion/the luxury economy.
The US and the EU constitute two particularly important markets both for the creation and for the exploitation of intellectual property. Although their legal systems diverge greatly, convergent solutions are often adopted and the two systems inspire each other. A study of intellectual property from a transatlantic perspective, as in this book, is therefore of great academic and practical interest.
The volume constitutes the follow-up to the Fifth Annual Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights in Szeged in Hungary that took place in 2021. My compliments go to the editors Péter Mezei, Hannibal Travis and Anett Pogácsás, whose commitment and enthusiasm makes me look forward to their future scientific initiatives.
Maciej Szpunar
First Advocate General, Court of Justice of the European Union