Intellectual property rights and distance sales contracts

Given the safeguard of intellectual properties plays an essential role to reward creative and inventive efforts, it is necessary to guarantee the effectiveness of the protection also in case of distance sales contracts. Anyway, significant legal differences among Member States and uncertainties in protection may be an obstacle to the free movement of services and products incorporating, or based on, intellectual property. This article focuses on the advisability to eliminate those differences of discipline that may hinder the development of the single European market, to maximize the opportunities offered by the electronic commerce and by the digital sector in general.