Patent decision

BL number
O/264/12
Concerning rights in
GB 1018849.8 GB 1107429.1
Hearing Officer
Mr A C Howard
Decision date
6 July 2012
Person(s) or Company(s) involved
Coupling Technology Limited and Coupling Solutions LLC
Provisions discussed
Patents Act 1977 section 8; Patents Rules 2007 rule 82(1)(f)
Keywords
Stay of proceedings
Related Decisions
None

Summary

The Defendant sought a stay in light of proceedings that had been launched by them in Florida, a part of which concerned a request for a declaration of the validity of an assignment of GB 1018849.8 to the Defendant.

First, the Hearing Officer dismissed an argument that Article 22(4) of the Judgments Regulation was relevant in respect of proceedings concerning entitlement.

He then proceeded to weigh up various arguments about which was the most appropriate or natural forum. He noted that one proceeding was not notably more advanced than the other but, if anything, the UK proceedings were slightly further ahead. The Florida proceedings also appeared to, in some respects, cover less ground than the UK proceedings with the effect that - if the UK proceedings were stayed - further litigation on the unresolved issues in the UK was likely after the stay was lifted. He also considered that arguments concerning the risk of irreconcilable judgments and estoppel carried significantly less weight as a result of the differing scope of the proceedings. Arguments about the applicable law were evenly balanced between the UK and Florida, and the location of the key witnesses may have pointed slightly towards Florida. The issue of the location of the parties themselves was, however, contentious and unresolved.

Taking all this into account, he did not consider the Defendant to have discharged the burden on it to show that there is another forum which is clearly or distinctly more appropriate than the UK. The request for a stay was refused.

Full decision O/264/12 PDF document114Kb