Patent litigation in Europe

Katrin Cremers (), Max Ernicke, Fabian Gaessler, Dietmar Harhoff (), Christian Helmers (), Luke McDonagh, Paula Schliessler and Nicolas van Zeebroeck
Additional contact information
Max Ernicke: Universität Düsseldorf
Fabian Gaessler: Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
Luke McDonagh: City University

European Journal of Law and Economics, 2017, vol. 44, issue 1, No 1, 44 pages

Abstract: Abstract We compare patent litigation cases across four European jurisdictions—Germany, the UK (England and Wales), France, The Netherlands—using case-level data gathered from cases filed in the four jurisdictions during the period 2000–2008. Overall, we find substantial differences across jurisdictions in terms of caseloads—notably, courts in Germany hear by far the largest number of cases, not only in absolute terms, but also when taking macro-economic indicators into account—and we further find important cross-country variances in terms of case outcomes. Moreover, we show empirically that a considerable number of patents are litigated across multiple European jurisdictions; and further, that in the majority of these cases divergent case outcomes are reached across the different jurisdictions, suggesting that the long-suspected problem of inconsistency of decision-making in European patent litigation is in fact real. Finally, we note that the coming into force of the Unified Patent Court in Europe may, in the long term, help to alleviate this inconsistency problem.

Keywords: Patent litigation; Europe; Patent system; Enforcement; Unified patent court (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K11 K41 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Working Paper: Patent litigation in Europe (2017)
Working Paper: Patent litigation in Europe (2013)
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DOI: 10.1007/s10657-016-9529-0

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