Lex loci protectionis (Latin: "[the] law of the place where the protection is [claimed]") is a choice of law rule applied to cases concerning the infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights, such as copyrights or patents.
It stipulates that the law applied to such cases is the law of the locus protectionis, that is, the law of the country for which legal protection for the intellectual property is claimed. Consequently, the law of the country where the intellectual property was created or registered is not applied.
Lex loci protectionis is generally accepted as the prevailing choice of law rule for IP rights, at least as concerns the existence, validity, scope and duration of the rights. Article 8 (1) of the European Union's Rome II Regulation codifies it as follows:
The law applicable to a non-contractual obligation arising from an infringement of an intellectual property right shall be the law of the country for which protection is claimed.