Comments of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law on the 2009 Commission Proposal for the Establishment of a Unified European Patent Judiciary

Abstract

The Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law endorses the Commission's plans for a Community patent, which promises several key advantages as compared to fragmented rights under the EPC system. The Institute likewise endorses the general structure for patent litigation under the latest proposal advanced by the Council and the Commission in 2009 for the establishment of a European and Community patent court (ECPC), which answers to most of the current problems of ineffectiveness plaguing patent litigation and incorporates a workable compromise between the differing interests of political players and other stakeholders. The Institute underlines in particular that the tasks of creating a substantive patent right for the internal market and of reforming the patent litigation system are essentially separate and may therefore be implemented separately. However, the structure of the ECPC as discussed under the 2009 Proposal requires a number of adaptations to increase effectiveness and to ensure compliance with general Community law, which are discussed in this article.

Keywords: community patent, European patent, litigation, court, unified judiciary, draft agreement 2007