Ascertaining the competent jurisdiction as well as the applicable law in disputes over intellectual property has for a number of years been at the centre of an international legal debate. In light of the increasing ubiquity of media transmissions extending across borders and the rise, in particular, of internet communication, the relevance of the topic has significantly increased and will continue to do so in the future. An international regulatory scheme governing intellectual property is presently being considered at different levels. At the European level, the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (Rome II) has just been codified in a Regulation, which contains special conflict rules for the infringement of intellectual property rights (Article 8). Furthermore, in 2005 the European Commission set forth a proposal for the future regulation of the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I), which likewise contains provisions covering intellectual property. In the international context, the closely followed efforts of the Hague Conference on Private International Law to formulate an international treaty on jurisdictional competence in civil and commercial matters – first begun in 1992 – were ultimately limited to the recognition of choice of court agreements in business-to-business transactions, in part due to the deep differences of opinion regarding jurisdiction in intellectual property disputes. The most noteworthy attempt to fill the gap resulting from the failed Hague Conference efforts is the American Law Institute (ALI) project titled „Intellectual Property: Principles Governing Jurisdiction and Choice of Law in Transborder Conflicts“ (IP Project), commenced in 2002. While American in origin, the project’s significance for Europe can hardly be overestimated; to the extent the intended regulations would have far-reaching economic consequence on the world’s largest exporter of protected intellectual property – the USA - European importers of such goods would be equally affected.
 
Given that the topic represents an intersection of those fields of research explored by the Hamburg Institute as well as the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Tax Law in Munich, the project lent itself to a pooling of the expertise found in both Institutes.  Against this backdrop, in March 2004 the two Institutes organized the joint conference „Intellectual Property in the Conflict of Laws“ at which representatives of the European Commission, the ALI and the Hague Conference reported on the current status of legislative efforts and legal projects. A volume containing the conference papers was published at the start of 2005 (Basedow; Drexl; Kur; Metzger [eds.], Intellectual Property in the Conflict of Laws, with a forward from Stig Strömholm, Mohr Siebeck Tübingen, XVI, 269 pages.).

The cooperation that extends across both Institutes will continue forward in the coming years within the framework of a working group. In addition to the researchers from the two Institutes, participants include international scholars from the Universities of Uppsala (Prof. Strömholm), Gent und Nottingham (Prof. Torremans), Paris II (Prof. Galloux), Amsterdam (Dr. van Eechoud), Chicago-Kent (Prof. Dinwoodie), Tartu/Estonia (Prof. Pisuke), and Madrid (Pedro de Miguel Asensio). The primary goal of the project is to develop principles of international private law and procedure regarding intellectual property that may later serve legislators and judges as a model for future legal formulations. Additionally, preparation of dissertations will allow more detailed examination of various aspects inherent to the topic. The project is being funded by a special grant from the Max Planck Society. The Hamburg Institute is represented by Jürgen Basedow, Christian Heinze and former research fellow Axel Metzger (Leibniz Universität Hannover). The working group meets two to three times a year.