The spider in the web doctrine is a

legal doctrine A legal doctrine is a framework, set of rules, procedural steps, or test, often established through precedent in the common law, through which judgments can be determined in a given legal case. A doctrine comes about when a judge makes a ruling ...

Dutch patent law Patent law in the Netherlands, or simply Dutch patent law, is mainly governed by the ''Kingdom Patents Act'' ( nl, Rijksoctrooiwet) and the European Patent Convention. A patent covering the Netherlands can be obtained through three different routes: ...

governing cross-border injunctions in patent infringement cases. Under this doctrine, the Dutch courts would assume

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

only in cases where the main defendant (the "spider") was located in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and where the other defendants were part of a group of companies and acted based on a common business policy of this group (the "web"), regardless of the nation in which the disputed

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

was issued. Decisions by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) have cast some doubt on the continuing validity of this doctrine. This is due in part to the fact that the ECJ did not feel that Dutch courts were competent to make predictions or judgments about the validity of patents granted outside the Netherlands, preferring to grant jurisdiction to the countries in which the patent was granted.''Dutch cross-border injunctions after Gat v. Luk''
E-newsletter Patent Law, Number 4, 22 December 2006, Nauta Dutilh web site.

See also

References

Further reading