Academically, Annette Kur is widely known as an intellectual property scholar. She has published extensively in the field, in particular on trade mark, design and unfair competition law, and her contributions are without doubt among the most fundamental writings on these subjects in the past thirty years. Against her achievements in IP, it may sometimes be less visible that Annette Kur is also a conflicts lawyer.2 The following contribution will try to sketch transition and continuity in the private international law of intellectual property since the 1990s – and the important contributions Annette Kur made in the different stages. To begin, however, I would like to express my personal and deeply felt gratitude: Annette Kur has always striven to invite, support, guide and give credit to the work of younger scholars. I profited immensely from working with her, and I am grateful for this privilege.