United Kingdom - Revival of the Patents County Court

The Patents County Court was set up as a lower court to that of the Patents Court (High Court) and was structured to handle patent cases involving private inventors or smaller companies. The intention was to provide a court which had procedures which were designed to reduce costs and increase the speed of patent litigation.

Unfortunately the procedures put in place did not result in accelerated patent litigation nor did they provide a significantly cheaper litigation forum than the Patents Court. Furthermore, given that most of the Patents County Court’s early decisions were overturned on appeal, the popularity of the Patent County Court diminished.

The original judge has retired and Judge Fysh now presides. The Patents County Court has introduced a simplified patent litigation procedure designed to deal with simple patent cases quickly, with lower associated costs. The procedure is focused upon providing a single day trial which takes place within about eight months from the commencement of proceedings, involves no automatic disclosure, no experiments and limits cross examination to specific topics.

The procedure is not suitable for litigation wherein complex findings of fact are required but it is hoped that the Patents County Court will provide increased access to patent litigation in the UK, especially for smaller domestic proceedings.