Patent Litigation in Europe

Despite more than forty years of discussion among practitioners, academics and policy makers only minor steps towards a single Intellectual Property Right certificate valid in all European countries are made. Still, a granted patent application at the European Patent Office dissolves into a bundle of national patent rights.

This project will generate for the first time data on patent enforcement across EU and provide comparative analysis of the different enforcement systems using a unique data set of enforcement suits handled at distinct courts in Europe. It underpins the policy process by helping to decide which elements of already existing and working enforcement systems in Europe should be kept and further developed and what drawbacks should be avoided. A harmonized procedure should circumvent incentives of forum shopping and duplication of suits as well as the filing of cheap litigation cases.

Duration: November 2010 - April 2012

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• Dr. Katrin Cremers, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Industrial Economics and International Management
• Dr. Georg Licht, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Department of Industrial Economics and International Management
• Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, PhD, INNO-tec - Institute for Innovation Research, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich
• Prof. Georg Von Graevenitz, PhD, INNO-tec - Institute for Innovation Research, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich
• Christian Helmers, PhD, Centre of Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science and Assistant Professor, Department of
  Economics, Carlos III University of Madrid
• Dr. Robert Pitkethly, Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre
• Tony Clayton, Intellectual Property Office
• Assistant Prof. Cedric Schneider, PhD, Copenhagen Business School
• Nicolas van Zeebroeck, PhD, Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management

Advisor to the Project Team:

• Prof. Mark Schankerman, PhD, Department of Economics, London School of Economics