

EU to vote on patent law - ajb
https://www.unitary-patent.eu/content/lord-unitary-patents-preview-european-parliament-plenary-vote

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andrewcooke
is there a clearer discussion somewhere that doesn't piss around with that
painful tolkein metaphor?

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ajb
This explains the general issue: [http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-
enterprise/2012/10/why...](http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-
enterprise/2012/10/why-the-ecj-must-be-ultimate-arbiter-of-the-unitary-
patent/index.htm)

The basic problem is the same as in the US: a patent-only court which is
captured, or at least intellectually swayed, by those with an interest in
lowering the standard of patentability. This is worse, because the Federal
Circuit can never ultimately escape the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
should it choose to act. But the European Patent Court is a separate
international institution, so if it is given sole jurisdiction over the
European Unitary Patent, then there will be little to check it.

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monochromatic
Where's the evidence that the Federal Circuit is intellectually swayed by
those with an interest in lowering the standard of patentability? The Fed
Circuit is the largest collection of judges in the U.S. that actually
understands patent law (not to say that _all_ of them do...); I wouldn't be so
quick to dismiss their jurisprudence as "capture."

