1. The Community took its first real steps in the field of intellectual property in the second half of the 70s, but it was the establishment of the single market which provided the decisive impetus for the harmonization of intellectual property rights. The objective was to ensure that goods and services protected by one of these rights could move freely. A right-holder had to be able to treat the Community as a single home market, which meant that the protection available had to be equivalent in all Member States. 2. It is appropriate to authorize the Member States to detain the goods in question for a certain period even before an application by the right holder has been lodged or approved in order to allow him to lodge an application for action by the customs authorities.
