Conflict of Laws and Court Jurisdiction in Intellectual Property and Electronic Commerce

Abstract

The rapid evolution of electronic commerce has transformed the traditional territorial foundations of intellectual property law, creating unprecedented challenges for conflict-of-laws analysis and the determination of court jurisdiction in cross-border digital disputes. Classical doctrines such as territoriality, lex loci protectionis, and lex loci delicti struggle to accommodate the ubiquity and simultaneity of online infringement, where a single digital act can generate legal consequences in multiple jurisdictions. Technological infrastructures—including cloud hosting, content delivery networks, algorithmic advertising systems, and geotargeting—further complicate the identification of the place of infringement, the location of harm, and the responsible actors. These conditions have produced significant difficulties for courts worldwide, resulting in fragmented jurisprudence and inconsistent enforcement outcomes. Through a comparative analysis of the European Union, the United States, international normative frameworks, and Iran, this narrative review highlights the divergent legal approaches to online intellectual property disputes. The EU’s targeting-based doctrine, the U.S. system rooted in minimum contacts and effects analysis, the soft-law guidance offered by WIPO, and Iran’s reliance on traditional territorial rules collectively illustrate both innovative developments and persistent gaps. The review demonstrates that no existing model fully resolves the jurisdictional complexities introduced by global digital markets and that traditional territorial assumptions collapse under the pressures of electronic commerce. It argues that harmonization efforts, doctrinal refinement, and modernization of national laws are essential to achieving coherent, predictable, and effective governance of online intellectual property rights. By integrating technological realities with legal principles, this study contributes to the development of frameworks better suited to regulating digital creative economies and facilitating cross-border enforcement in an increasingly interconnected world.