The result is a threefold fragmentation. Licences over national IP rights may escape the lex loci concursus where the licensed right qualifies as a right in rem. Licences over EU trade marks and designs remain predominantly contractual. Licences over the European patent with unitary effect occupy a more uncertain position because their legal nature depends upon the national law governing the patent as an object of property, creating further fragmentation. The article identifies this final dynamic as an“ intra-European Brussels effect paradox”. A European framework intended to promote coherence may instead amplify particular national property-law choices or reproduce divergence within the treatment of a supposedly unitary European right.
The paper concludes that private international law alone is insufficient to secure coherence and legal certainty. Directive( EU) 2026 / 799 nevertheless represents a significant and welcome development, as it gives legislative form to the Commission’ s first express attempt to address IP licences in insolvency and recognise the vulnerability of licensees. Yet its limited scope and facultative character leave the central cross-border problem unresolved. Given the growing importance of the European Patent with unitary effect, further substantive harmonisation remains necessary to support cross-border innovation and investment in the internal market.
Gold Medal Winner Guillem Gabriel-Pizarro and Bronze Medal Winner Shuaidong Yan with Chair Stephan Madaus in Montreal.
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