Reform of the Patents County Court (PCC)

The Civil Procedure (Amendment No.2) Rules 2010 External Link came into force on Friday 1 October 2010.

The amended rules brought in

  • streamlined PCC procedures, and
  • a fixed scale of costs, modelled on the IPO tribunal scale costs, which is normally capped at £50,000.

These changes more clearly differentiate the PCC from the High Court and bring more certainty to litigants as to their potential exposure to costs.

The Court was created by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as an affordable forum in which SMEs in particular may resolve their IP disputes. The changes aim to help the court to fulfil that purpose more effectively.

The IPO is working towards introducing a limit to the value of claims heard in the PCC, which will ensure that lower value IP litigation normally falls within its jurisdiction, along the lines recommended by Lord Justice Jackson and the Intellectual Property Court Users’ Committee.

7 October 2010