Costs: Why not abolish the Patents County Court?
I have just finished reading Chapter 24 of Sir Rupert Jackson's final report on costs ( Review of Civil Litigation Costs: Final Report ) which was published yesterday. It is a good report and I welcome its proposals for intellectual property. However, back in July 2009 I proposed a more radical solution to the IP Bar Association and the working group of the Intellectual Property Court Users' Committee ( "IPCUC" ) that was set up to formulate proposals for the reform of the Patents County Court. IPCUC did not see fit to include my suggestions in its submissions to Jackson (which is understandable since they call for the abolition of the Patents County Court and an extension and reform of the Comptroller's jurisdiction) but I still they think they have merit. As Jackson's recommendations will require primary legislation there will have to be a debate in Parliament and perhaps elsewhere on how best to improve intellectual property dispute resolution in the UK ...