Europeanisation of Intellectual Property Law

The title and central theme of this project is “The Europeanisation of Intellectual Property Law”. Its purpose is to explore the methodological, institutional and substantive issues affecting the development of European intellectual property law, including the impact of that development on national IP law and systems. It has been made possible in part by the generous support of the University of Oxford's John Fell OUP Research Fund.

Several events and publications have been and are being planned as part of this project. The next conference to take place – Perspectives on the Unitary (EU) Patent System – will be hosted by the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law and the ESRC Centre for Competition Policy at the University of East Anglia in Oxford on 4 & 5 October 2013. The first book to result from the project will be published by OUP in November 2013 under the title "The Europeanization of Intellectual Property Law: Towards a European Legal Methodology" (eds Ansgar Ohly & Justine Pila).

Now is an ideal time to explore these themes. The amount of IP litigation at the domestic and European levels is increasing, the interaction between domestic and European legal sources and institutions is becoming increasingly complex and contested, and further IP Europeanisation initiatives are being pursued. Beyond IP, the Europeanisation of general private law has also been a central focus of European and comparative legal scholars’ work, particularly since the European Parliament's call for the creation of a European Civil Code in 1989. However, and notwithstanding significant investments of time and money, and the publication of many texts, studies, books and articles, general private law remains considerably less harmonised than IP, with projects hampered by disagreement over basic issues of institution and methodology.

To date two events have been convened as part of this project: a conference entitled “Comparative Perspectives on Protecting Products by Patents”, held at St Catherine’s College on 4 December 2010, and a conference entitled European Methods and Interactions in the Field of Intellectual Property, held at Jesus College on 7 & 8 January 2012. A third conference entitled Perspectives on the Unitary (EU) Patent System will be held on 4 & 5 October 2013 to mark the 50th and 40th anniversaries of the signing of the Strasbourg and European Patent Conventions.

Faculty contact person: Justine Pila