Patents Act 2004: New Commencement Orders

A bit more of the Patents Act 2004 will come into force on 1 Oct 2005. The third commencement order was made on 5 Sept 2005 and published on the OPSI website yesterday. The most interesting of the new provisions will be which imports a new s.74A and s.74B into the Patents Act 1977. These new sections provide for advisory opinions by Patent Office hearing officers on validity and infringement of patents.

I have already mentioned the relevant issues in my post of 12 Sept 2005 on the free seminar on Patent Office advisory opinions which will take place in Leeds 24 Nov 2005. This new commencement order will make the new seminar even more timely.

The necessary changes to the Patent Rules 1995 will also come into being on 1 Oct 2005 as a result of The Patents (Amendment) Rules 2005. All the more reason to turn up to Mr Hayward's talk at BPP Law School on 24 Nov 2005.

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