眾律國際專利商標事務所/眾律國際法律事務所

（歐洲專利制度問題意識之形成）

眾律國際法律事務所　實習律師郭怡妘 

     European Patent System is constructed by EPC and corresponding national patent laws. This legal system may seem easy from a perspective of pursuing harmonization. States set out to accomplish the goal by entering into or ratifying EPC. Nonetheless, problems may exist in unifying their substantive laws by interpreting or construing the corresponding national patent laws in a unified way. The unified law is thus called ‘international uniform law’ in the context of harmonization whose task is to reach a harmonized result. In reality, however, when applying the laws the courts meet obstacles. The courts may give a legal comparative interpretation by trying to adopt universal or European legal understanding and case law, but an equal application of the law is sometimes a hard one.

 眾律國際法律事務所 Zoomlaw Attorneys-at-Law

     The second problem we should be aware of is that when infringing acts occur, the party may initiate several parallel infringement actions in different countries across Europe or simply choose which court to judge and this can lead to ‘forum shopping.’ It is because whether there is a duty for a uniform interpretation of the law is uncertain. In this situation, each trial can result in different outcomes and end in injustice. That is to say, the enactment of the law is easy, the application difficult.

眾律國際法律事務所 Zoomlaw Attorneys-at-Law

Reference

Stefan, Ph.D. Luginbuehl. European Patent Law: Towards a Uniform Interpretation. Centre for Intellectual Property Law, 2011.

眾律國際法律事務所 Zoomlaw Attorneys-at-Law