The Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Action - How Will the Design of the UPC Affect Patent Law?

by Kluwer in "Transitions in European Patent Law – Influences of the Unitary Patent Package" (2015 Forthcoming)

22 Pages Posted: 17 Jun 2014

See all articles by Clement Salung Petersen

Clement Salung Petersen

University of Copenhagen, Centre for Enterprise Liability; University of Copenhagen - Centre for Private Governance (CEPRI)

Thomas Riis

University of Copenhagen - Faculty of Law

Jens Schovsbo

Centre for Information and Innovation Law (CIIR)

Date Written: June 16, 2014

Abstract

The new common judiciary for European patents (UPC) will play a crucial role in the future European patent system. The UPC will be a very specialised court that i.a. recruits judges from specialists’ circles and has as part of its mission to develop a coherent and autonomous body of case law. The article points out that the UPC because of this design will be biased towards technology based values and uniformity at the expense of other values and interests e.g. non-economic public interests, and values associated with diversity. The practical effects of these biases are analysed regarding cases involving ordre public and morality and scope of protection. The article shows that the biases will affect the law in all the areas discussed and that if unchecked they will reduce some of the “wriggling room” which the current system has provided. To maintain that room a focused effort by the UPC to neutralise the effects of the biases is needed. Lastly, concrete steps to achieve this rebalancing are proposed.

Keywords: Unified Patent Court, UPC, patent law, EU

Suggested Citation

Petersen, Clement Salung and Riis, Thomas and Schovsbo, Jens, The Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Action - How Will the Design of the UPC Affect Patent Law? (June 16, 2014). by Kluwer in "Transitions in European Patent Law – Influences of the Unitary Patent Package" (2015 Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2450945 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2450945

Clement Salung Petersen

University of Copenhagen, Centre for Enterprise Liability ( email )

DK-1455 Copenhagen
Denmark

University of Copenhagen - Centre for Private Governance (CEPRI) ( email )

Karen Blixens Vej 16
Copenhagen, 2300
Denmark

Thomas Riis

University of Copenhagen - Faculty of Law ( email )

Karen Blixens Plads 16
Studiestrade 6
København S, 2300
Denmark

Jens Schovsbo (Contact Author)

Centre for Information and Innovation Law (CIIR) ( email )

University of Copenhagen
Karen Blixens Plads 16
Copenhagen, 2300
Denmark

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