Patents County Court: users propose reform

As has recently been reported on PatLit, the Working Group of the Intellectual Property Court Users' Committee has just gone public with its proposals for reform of the Patents County Court for England and Wales. This court, which was set up with the best intentions of reducing the cost of patent litigation and making altogether simpler and more user-friendly, has not been able to achieve that desired end -- for more reasons than the IPKat has time to enumerate in the space of a short weblog article.

The Working Group has come up with some constructive and sensible proposals for improving the current system -- and has not shied away from problems either. If you'd like to read the proposals and email your comments to the Group's secretary Philip Westmacott, please do so by 3 July 2009.

Says the IPKat, one of the proposals is to change the name of the court from the Patents County Court to the Intellectual Property County Court. This won't actually make the litigation cheaper, but it may sound a little less expensive to litigants who have already been exposed to courts with the P word in their name. Merpel adds, don't print the proposals out in full. Although the document is 24 pages, page 2 is blank, as is the penultimate page, while the final page is a single blank sheet of orangey-red (a great waste of colour toner).