Concise International and European IP Law - TRIPS, Paris Convention, European Enforcement and Transfer of Technology is the title of a convenient little book published by Kluwer Law International this February. Edited by Pierre Veron and Thomas Cottier, it is one of a series of genuinely handbook-sized volumes that cover essential international and European texts in the key areas of intellectual property and information technology law. Packed into nearly 600 bite-sized pages are the provisions of TRIPs, the Paris Convention on the Protection of Industrial Property, three EU Regulations -- 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, 1383/2003 on customs actons against suspected infringing imports and 772/2004 on technology transfer, and one Directive -- IP enforcement directive 2004/48. Each comes with handy overview and Article-by-Article commentary from one of the 23 distinguished contributors (their names appear at the foot of each page of commentary).

According to the publisher's blurb, the formula of this series is based on the successful German and Dutch formula 'KurzKommentar' and 'Tekst en Commentaar'. The native English reader from a common law jurisdiction may find the text a little daunting, since some of the monolithic paragraphs of comment extend to well over a page and do not always help the reader distinguish the main comment from the additional glosses. This reviewer suspects that works of this nature may be of more assistance to someone reading through in order to gain a good understanding of each provision than for the practitioner, so he is curious to see how well it is received in the major English-speaking jurisdictions both inside Europe and beyond it.

Further details available from Kluwer Law International here