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BLOG@IP::JURPatent Attorney Axel H Horns' Blog on Intellectual Property Law.
Wednesday, February 04, 2004Lords Hansard on UK Patent Bill.In two earlier postings 1 and 2, I had reported about a  Bill pending in the UK parliament that aims to enable the UK Patent Office to provide an independent non-binding opinion on patent validity or infringement to settle disputes over patent rights without parties having to resort to expensive litigation.
Now, the minutes of the second reading have been published in the Lords Hansard.
After the debate had been opened by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry; Government Spokesperson for Trade and Industry, Lord Lyell said:
"[...] The noble Lord tried to be persuasive - and probably was quite persuasive - about Clause 12 and the opinions of the Patent Office. He suggested that there should be simplicity for small and medium-sized firms. I much admired the Patent Office in 1977 and much admire it now. However, giving opinions can be perilous or even dangerous, and certainly somewhat difficult. The Minister drew attention to the fact that Clause 12 states that: Then Earl Attlee responded:
"[...] Clause 12 provides for the Patents Office to give an opinion on validity and any infringement of a patent. I share the concerns of my noble friend Lord Lyell about the clause. I can see the mischief regarding the extremely high cost of litigation?one reason for that is that patent lawyers need to be technocrats as well. I can understand how the Patent Office, because of its wide experience, can give an opinion on the validity of a patent, but infringement will be a new area of activity for the Patent Office. The new procedure is designed to save the costs of litigation and I have been told that it might cost in the order of GBP 150 to GBP 300. But one would be lucky to have an hour of the services of a good patent lawyer for that much money, so I am not quite convinced that the new procedure will help. Will the Minister give some idea of the costs and the time scale involved in the Patent Office giving an opinion? That opinion may be useful as a sanity check to parties in a dispute, but the Minister will have to convince the House that there is further utility in the clause." I'm really curious to learn whether or not that Clause 12 will be amended in Parliament ...
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