It has long
been a major concern of SME’s that
the cost of protecting their
intellectual property rights is a
deterrent to the commencement of
legitimate actions for patent,
copyright or trade mark
infringement. All that has now
changed with the implementation of
the new costs and procedural rules
in the (badly named) Patents County
Court.First, do not be
confused by the name. The PCC hears
all intellectual property cases and
provides a cost effective means of
resolving IP disputes. Targeted
specifically at SME’s, it is
designed to avoid the “David v
Goliath” deep pocket tactics
employed by big name defendants
under the old system.
Highlights of the new regime
include:
- cost capping limiting the
total cost of the whole case
(from start to trial) to
£50,000;
- fixing the costs of an
enquiry as to damages or
accounts of profits to a maximum
of £25,000;
- substantial procedural
streamlining, ie no formal
witness statements and cross
examination to be limited;
- trials expected to finish in
one or at most two days and to
be listed much more quickly than
previously.
While not directly affected by
these new rules, it should also be
understood that policies of after
the event insurance available to
protect against the risk of losing
an IP action should be much easier
to obtain now that insurers will be
aware of the cost-limiting
provisions. All this is good news
for owner managed businesses looking
to protect their IP rights. If you
need further information about these
changes please contact Taylors’ head
of IP
Tony Catterall at
tony.catterall@taylors.co.uk. |
