International Law

Global Patent System?

By Karl-Friedrich Lenz

Horacio Gutierrez, Deputy General Counsel at Microsoft, seems to think that there is an opportunity to create a global patent system, a “world patent that is derived from a single patent application, examined and prosecuted by a single examining authority and litigated before a single judicial body.”

That would raise the question where to allocate the “single examining authority”. Either the European or the American Patent Office or both would need to be shut down. And which single judicial body would be trusted by all states worldwide with the litigation? It is difficult enough to get European patent litigation. A patent world court does not seem to be a realistic prospect.

Full post as published by Lenz Blog on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).