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• New Rule Changes to the Patents County Court make it easier for SME to enforce their IP rights

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  Jane Lambert    Group moderator

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  New Rule Changes to the Patents County Court make it easier for SME to enforce their IP rights

  One of the reasons why the UK consistently trails its neighbours in the number of European patent applications is the cost of enforcement litigation in this country: £1 million plus in the High Court and £150,000 to £250,000 in the Patents County Court compared to €10,000 to €50,000 on the Continent. At the beginning of October 2010 new rules were introduced that limit the cost of determining liability to £50,000 (not much more than €50,000 at current rates of exchange) and inquiries or accounts of profits (that's to say monetary remedies) at £25.000 for IP cases in the Patents County Court.
  
  I discussed those reforms in my IP/IT Update blog the other day at http://nipclaw.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-patent-county-court-...
  
  Today, the judge of that court, His Honour Judge Ford delivered judgment on an application to transfer a claim form the Patents County Court to the Patents Court where there is no jurisdiction. I blogged a short case note on that point few minutes ago at http://nipclaw.blogspot.com/2010/11/patents-alk-abello-ltd-v...
  
  That's an important case on the use of this tribunal. Particularly encouraging were the judge's reasons for his decision:
  
  "The decisive factor is that the court was set up to ensure that small and medium sized enterprises, and private individuals, were not deterred from innovation by the potential cost of litigation to safeguard their rights. With the new procedures in place I intend to devote my energies to making them work in order to achieve that objective."
  
  I am sure the judge means what he says. If anyone wants to discuss this case with me they can do so by filling in this form https://nipclaw.wufoo.com/forms/nipc-law-contact-jane-lamber...
  This post was modified on 09 Nov 2010 at 04:37 pm.
  • 09 Nov 2010, 4:35 pm
  Jane Lambert wrote: > One of the reasons why the UK consistently trails its neighbours in > the number of European patent applications is the cost of enforcement > litigation in this country: £1 million plus in the High Court and > £150,000 to £250,000 in the Patents County Court compared to €10,000 > to €50,000 on the Continent. At the beginning of October 2010 new > rules were introduced that limit the cost of determining liability to > £50,000 (not much more than €50,000 at current rates of exchange) and > inquiries or accounts of profits (that's to say monetary remedies) at > £25.000 for IP cases in the Patents County Court. > > I discussed those reforms in my IP/IT Update blog the other day at > http://nipclaw.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-patent-county-court-rules.html > > Today, the judge of that court, His Honour Judge Ford delivered > judgment on an application to transfer a claim form the Patents > County Court to the Patents Court where there is no jurisdiction. I > blogged a short case note on that point few minutes ago at > http://nipclaw.blogspot.com/2010/11/patents-alk-abello-ltd-v-meridian. > html > > That's an important case on the use of this tribunal. Particularly > encouraging were the judge's reasons for his decision: > > "The decisive factor is that the court was set up to ensure that > small and medium sized enterprises, and private individuals, were not > deterred from innovation by the potential cost of litigation to > safeguard their rights. With the new procedures in place I intend to > devote my energies to making them work in order to achieve that > objective." > > I am sure the judge means what he says. If anyone wants to discuss > this case with me they can do so by filling in this form > https://nipclaw.wufoo.com/forms/nipc-law-contact-jane-lambert/
• 
  Jane Lambert    Group moderator

  The company name is only visible to registered members.

  Re: New Rule Changes to the Patents County Court make it easier for SME to enforce their IP rights

  Following on from my article yesterday, there is a consultation on imposing a monetary limit to the value of claims that can be brought in our Patents County Court. I've mentioned the issues in a short follow up article http://nipclaw.blogspot.com/2010/11/setting-limit-on-value-o... .
  
  • 10 Nov 2010, 08:34 am
  Jane Lambert wrote: > Following on from my article yesterday, there is a consultation on > imposing a monetary limit to the value of claims that can be brought > in our Patents County Court. I've mentioned the issues in a short > follow up article > http://nipclaw.blogspot.com/2010/11/setting-limit-on-value-of-claims-h > eard.html .