The Governance of the European Patent System : Effective and Legitimate?

This article argues that effectiveness and legitimacy are two inseparable issues for the success of economic governance systems. Moving beyond the conventional market failure and state failure approaches, the article develops the notion of network governance success, a notion that looks at the formal and informal dimensions of interactions in economic systems. This is further developed into an analytical framework which is then used in the assessment of the structural features of the current European patent system, one of the most advanced, complex, and contested economic systems in Europe. The conclusions elaborate on some normative implications regarding the weaknesses of the European patent system, and underline the argument that effectiveness and legitimacy are deeply entwined for the successful daily praxis of these technically complex governance systems