A Unitary Patent for a (Dis)United Europe: The Long Shadow of History

Abstract

General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms Abstract This article retraces the

Towards a Universal Patent with Unitary Effect – The EU Unitary Patent’s Lessons

“…However, to achieve true international status, widespread participation from potential member states is essential to prevent continued fragmentation with multiple patent systems in operation. Despite its original intent to cover more EU enhanced cooperation participating states (Hilty et al, 2012;Plomer, 2015), as of the time of writing, only 17 countries have ratified the UPC Agreement, with hopes for more to follow (EPO, 2024).…”

“…The establishment of the UPC represents a significant step forward, considering that despite the degree of substantive harmonization achieved, the need for national enforcement and the varied national patent litigation have always contributed to the fragmentation plaguing the global patent system (Plomer, 2015). A consensus is that the UPC will need to establish a strong reputation for quality, legal consistency, efficiency and celerity to gain the muchneeded public trust and credibility (Stierle, 2023;Hartmann-Vareilles, 2015).…”

27 The co-existence between EPC and patents with unitary effect

“…10 It also provided two institutional gravity centres which would not be easy to reconcile. 11 This "original sin" of the European patent system would stick out as a sore thumb of the ever-integrating European economies. 12 The EU's attempts to provide for unitary patent rights were given new momentum when the deadlock caused largely due to disagreements over the applicable language regime was resolved, or some might say, were "bulldozed over", by the Council of the EU's authorisation of enhanced cooperation with respect to the creation of unitary patent protection.…”

Human stem cells patents—Emerging issues and challenges in Europe, United States, China, and Japan

“…Thus, there is a trend for a global “uniformization” of European patents laws in the field of biotechnological inventions although a European patent relied on the EPC framework and a national patent relied on both the Directive 98/44/EC and on national law implementing it. While the articulation between the different kinds of patents, notably with the future unitary patent, and patent laws in Europe are raising lots of concern (Kaesling, ; Kaisi, ; Mahne, ; Pila & Wadlow, ; Plomer, ), what is going beyond the patentability of inventions based on human stem cells is not considered in this article.…”