A balanced, innovation-friendly and uniform patent system is indispensable for Europe. However, the latest EU proposal for a patent package (Patent Regulation and flanking court system) is both dangerous and misguided. While a superficial glance may create the false impression of a patent law...

Protection of innovative technologies by patents or by copyrights is marked by a tension between, on the one hand, the private interest in obtaining a broad exclusivity over market opportunities, and, on the other, the public interest in strictly limiting the "monopoly" right to what is...