Patent Litigation in Europe

70 Pages Posted: 10 Oct 2013

See all articles by Katrin Cremers

Katrin Cremers

Center for European Economic Research (ZEW)

Maximilian Ernicke

Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf

Fabian Gaessler

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

Dietmar Harhoff

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) - Institute for Innovation Research, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship (INNO-tec)

Christian Helmers

Santa Clara University - Department of Economics

Luke McDonagh

LSE Law; London School of Economics and Political Science

Paula Schliessler

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Nicolas van Zeebroeck

Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, iCite

Date Written: September 30, 2013

Abstract

We compare patent litigation cases across four European jurisdictions – Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the UK – covering cases filed during the period 2000-2008. For our analysis, we assemble a new dataset that contains detailed information at the case, litigant, and patent level for patent cases filed at the major courts in the four jurisdictions. We find substantial differences across jurisdictions in terms of case loads. Courts in Germany hear by far the largest number of cases in absolute terms, but also when taking country size into account. We also find important between-country differences in terms of outcomes, the share of cases that is appealed, as well as the characteristics of litigants and litigated patents. A considerable number of patents are litigated in multiple jurisdictions, but the majority of patents are subject to litigation only in one of the four jurisdictions.

Keywords: Patent litigation, Europe

JEL Classification: O34, K11, K41

Suggested Citation

Cremers, Katrin and Ernicke, Maximilian and Gaessler, Fabian and Harhoff, Dietmar and Helmers, Christian and McDonagh, Luke and Schliessler, Paula and van Zeebroeck, Nicolas, Patent Litigation in Europe (September 30, 2013). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 13-072, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2333617 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2333617

Katrin Cremers (Contact Author)

Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1 D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

Maximilian Ernicke

Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf ( email )

Universitätsstrasse 1
Duesseldorf, DE NRW 40225
Germany

Fabian Gaessler

Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition ( email )

Marstallplatz 1
Munich, 80539
Germany

Dietmar Harhoff

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) - Institute for Innovation Research, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship (INNO-tec) ( email )

Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
D-80539 Munich
Germany

Christian Helmers

Santa Clara University - Department of Economics ( email )

500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053
United States

Luke McDonagh

LSE Law ( email )

United Kingdom

London School of Economics and Political Science ( email )

United Kingdom

Paula Schliessler

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

Nicolas Van Zeebroeck

Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, iCite ( email )

Ave. Franklin D Roosevelt, 50 - C.P. 114/4
Brussels, B-1050
Belgium
+3226503375 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.vanzeebroeck.net

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