From local diversity to transnational institutionalization: The emergence of the European Unified Patent Court

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Johannes Glückler
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research ; Human Geography
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 430164615

• Final Report Year: 2025

Final Report Abstract

On the occasion of the establishment of the European Unified Patent Court (UPC) in 2023, UNIFIED examined the social mechanisms that promote the harmonization of national patent jurisprudence within this transnational institution. Due to delays in the UPC’s implementation, the analysis initially focused on Germany, considering the federal diversity of patent jurisdiction. The empirical research is based on interviews with judges and experts, statistical analyses of BPatG (German Federal Patent Court) rulings, network analyses of case law citations, and a unique network survey among judges appointed to the UPC. The findings inform a relational model of transnational institutionalization, shaped by mechanisms of both variation and convergence. In addition to formal instruments such as appellate instances, the formation of collective judicial beliefs plays a key role. Judicial beliefs are enforced through informal deliberation networks among judges, exchanges at so-called convergence events, scholarly commentary in publications, and citations of precedent-setting rulings. Given its geographically dispersed judicial divisions and panels, the UPC will rely on the organization of temporary proximity as well as dense interpersonal deliberation networks among judges to ensure consistent jurisprudence in the future.

Link to the final report

https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-101240-3

Publications

• Unleashing the potential of relational research: A meta-analysis of network studies in human geography. Progress in Human Geography, 45(6), 1531-1557.
  Glückler, Johannes & Panitz, Robert
  
• The Judicial Geography of Patent Litigation in Germany: Implications for the Institutionalization of the European Unified Patent Court. Social Sciences, 12(5), 311.
  Zipf, Marius; Glückler, Johannes; Khuchua, Tamar; Lazega, Emmanuel; Lachapelle, François & Hoffmann, Jakob
  
• From regional diversity to transnational harmony: institutionalizing the European Unified Patent Court. Working Paper, LMU Munich
  Glückler J., Zipf M., Hoffmann J. & Lazega
  
• The nascent network of judges at the Unified Patent Court. Working Paper, LMU Munich
  Glückler J., Hoffman J., Zipf M. & Lazega E.