The paper deals with the concept of territoriality of intellectual property rights in its three meanings: international, substantive and conflict of laws. The principle of territoriality is contrasted by the author with the principle of universality, which is manifested in some approaches to cross-border copyright issues. The author then discusses the connecting factor lex loci protectionis (Sec. 80 Czech Act on International Private Law), which represents the projection of the territoriality principle into conflict of laws. The author discusses different approaches to the scope of application of the lex loci protectionis, in particular the question of the initial ownership and the transferability of rights. In the concluding part, the author defends the traditional concept of lex loci protectionis and provides contra-arguments to the solutions of the so-called universalists who propose that the question of the primary owner and transferability of rights should be governed by the law of the state of the origin of the work (lex originis).