UofW Law Speaker Series: European Patent Judiciary in the Light of the Emergence of the Unified Patent Court

In her lecture, Tamar Khuchua will present the European judicial design in the field of patents. She will contextualize her main research findings concerning the existing European patent judiciary by referring to the broader harmonization goals of the European Union rooted in the idea of the EU single market. Tamar will specifically articulate the issue of lack of uniform EU patent law and the divergence between the major European patent-intensive countries’ national court systems. She will bring the example of German, French and British courts’ differing elements as well as differences in the approaches the national courts may have towards substantive patent issues. After underlining the lack of EU harmonization in the field of patent enforcement in contrast to the other intellectual property fields such as trademark law, Tamar will present the chronology of the emergence of a single, centralized and specialized European patent Court – the UPC (Unified Patent Court). The UPC has been intended to tackle the existing issues and uphold uniformity in the European Union. However, it has not yet been officially established and is facing controversial opinions. Tamar will present the surrounding scientific debates as well as the formal obstacles that hinder the UPC from becoming operational, such as the consequences deriving from Brexit and the constitutional complaint lodged in Germany against the establishment of the UPC. In her lecture, Tamar will discuss the possible repercussions that the current and the future European patent judiciary might have on European as well as foreign litigators who choose Europe as a patent litigation venue. 

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