ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the operation of the integrated process in the fields of design and trade dress protection. It focuses on two primary issues, using examples drawn from recent developments in those fields. First, the chapter discusses the characteristics of what has arguably been the predominant form of international lawmaking in recent years, namely the process of harmonization. Second, it identifies some current design or trade dress protection issues that may soon be part of this complex lawmaking process. The Design Directive of the European Union (EU) exemplifies the tendency of harmonization exercises to "harmonize-up", to mandate higher levels of protection. European initiatives on design and trade dress protection highlight the limits of harmonization as the primary instrument of international intellectual property lawmaking. Harmonization of national laws cannot avoid the partitioning of markets that is occasioned by territorial rights, nor can it eliminate fully the costs of applying for and maintaining serial national industrial property registrations.
