Towards the Uniformity and Consistency in Jurisprudence on the European and Eurasian Patents.

Abstract

The paper analyzes dispute-resolution practice for European patents and evaluates mechanisms to ensure its uniformity, with emphasis on the functioning of the European Union. The European patent dispute system is complex and involves multiple adjudicative bodies — national courts of contracting states to the European Patent Convention, the European Patent Office’s Boards of Appeal, the Unified Patent Court, and the Court of Justice of the EU — which creates a need for tools to harmonize case law and consolidate European patent law. Using comparative legal analysis and statistical data on Eurasian patent disputes, the study assesses the applicability of European harmonization mechanisms to the Eurasian patent system and concludes that establishing a specialized supranational court for Eurasian patents would currently be premature. The analysis draws on foreign and Russian scholarly literature, national court practice across Europe, and decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the European Patent Organization (EPO) and the Court of Intellectual Property Rights.