The recent surge of multijurisdictional IP disputes and increase in non-binding soft laws have made scholars cast doubt on the sustainability of public international law and the validity of the current IP legal system. Private lawyers may now think that they do not have to pay keen attention to public international law any longer when providing legal advice to their clients, particularly MNCs. This study makes a concise description of today’s legal environment in the field of IP, focusing on the emerging legal norms of transnational law, particularly in the context of its interplay with public international law. With respect to this, the ongoing and even heightened roles of public international law will be discussed. Finally, a typology is suggested using exponents to express intensity of State sovereignty to facilitate understanding on the relationship between public international law and other categories of law.

IP litigations over mobile digital devices are soaring in many jurisdictions. Based on the observation that the same or closely related infringement claims over the IP rights embedded in a single digital product have been raised in multiple jurisdictions, some literature and legislative proposals suggest that an international jurisdiction over such litigations are necessary. This article aims to explore practical roadmaps to establish public international “conflict of laws” that can serve administering IP dispute resolution among MNCs. The author will start by reviewing both public international laws on IPRs including the Paris Convention, PCT, the Geneva Convention, the TRIPs, and their private counterparts. Institutional aspects of the WTO and the WIPO administering such as public international IP laws will also be examined. Agreeing with the proposed idea of establishing ‘public’ private international IP laws, this article will propose a more practical roadmap to establish time and cost efficient IP dispute resolution mechanism: the IP5 Collaboration Model.