Geography of Law and the European Unified Patent Court: From regional variation to transnational harmonization in judicial practice?

Abstract

The Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) are on the verge of creating a unified European patent system, which is expected to come into force in 2023. In line with other EU cohesion narratives such as the EU Digital Single Market or its extension in the form of the EU4Digital Initiative, the UPC also faces the challenge of harmonizing nationally diverse cultures and practices while ensuring consistency and reliability. Due to its federal jurisdictional structure, Germany offers an opportunity to study such harmonization, as it is the only country in which business firms can freely choose among twelve alternative regional courts to file a patent infringement suit. The possibility to choose a court evokes geographical variation of patent litigation across regional court practices within the same jurisdiction. Drawing on a Geography of Law perspective, we use semi-structured interviews and decision documents to examine the beliefs of judges in regional courts as a source of regional variation, and shed light on the mechanisms of harmonization, including the appellate process. We contribute to the emerging field of Geography of Law by examining how law shapes space and, conversely, is shaped by its local context.