This article examines the role of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) in the European patent system. It shows how the delineation of European patent law has been handed over by governments to an autonomous, quasi‐judicial technocracy at the EPO and reveals how the process of hollowing out economic and political factors in the grant of patents is assisted by the deference of national courts to the EPO and the creation of the Unified Patent Court. It suggests that these developments pose a threat to democratic governance of the patent system in Europe because the delineation of intellectual property rights has inherent economic and political dimensions which are not reducible to technical legal issues of interpretation or technocratic expertise.

中文翻译：

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欧洲专利局作为欧洲专利立法者

本文研究了欧洲专利组织（EPO）在欧洲专利系统中的作用。它显示了欧洲政府如何将欧洲专利法的划分移交给欧洲专利局的自治，准司法技术官制，并揭示了如何在尊重专利权的过程中掏空经济和政治因素的过程欧洲专利局的法院和统一专利法院的成立。它表明这些事态发展对欧洲专利制度的民主治理构成了威胁，因为对知识产权的划定具有内在的经济和政治方面，无法解释为解释性的技术法律问题或技术专家的专长。