en German law as the work was also downloaded there.
Intemational copyright law does not provide a satisfactory resolution
for such an intemational case since the main pillar of intellectual property
law—the principal of territoriality—implies nationally limited application
of copyright law. Accordingly, the exclusive rights afforded to a copyright
owner can only be exercised within the borders of a given country. This
national limitation of copyrights is in pronounced contrast to the universal
validity of other rights (e.g., contractual rights).^
In order to decide the above-described case, one must consider not only
copyright law, but also conflict-of-laws methods. Traditionally, however,
there has been little exchange between conflict-of-laws and intellectual
property scholars."* This mutual ignorance stems from the fact that intellectual
property law used to reflect the prototypical expression of sovereign
or national interests and therefore involves the exclusive application of
domestic law. As a result ofthe growing distribution of copyrighted work
over the Intemet, however, intellectual property scholars must concem
themselves increasingly with conflict-of-laws issues. This Article establishes
some common ground for the previously distinct fields of conflictof-laws
and intemational intellectual property law. Specifically, the Article
demonstrates how to apply conflict-of-laws theory to intemational
copyright cases while making allowances for the special character of intemational
intellectual property law