Patent Law

The following is excerpted from an April 27, 2009 post at PatLit:

The Burdon Plan, first launched on the IPKat weblog on 5 November last year, has been the subject of a good deal of discussion and further thought since then ...[including] critical response from Taylor Wessing's Gareth Morgan and Richard Price... In the following article, Michael Burdon develops his proposals in the light of the many responses he has received.  He writes:

"The purpose of this note is to provide some additional comments on the ideas outlined in my earlier note, especially taking into account numerous communications and discussions I have had since its original publication, including discussions with industry bodies and professional organisations, such as the IPLA. I also appreciate that the Plan would require a change of rules in the light of Nichia v Argos and Knight v Beyond.

The main assumption in my paper was that there was a substantial body of patent litigation which did not occur in the UK because companies could not afford it. This assumption is supported by my discussions. The problem of lack of access to justice lies not only with patent owners being unable to enforce their rights but also with companies which are forced to change their R&D and/or take licences when they do not consider the relevant patent to be valid but cannot afford to challenge it.

Read the full post here as well as explore the full blog which launched on September 29, 2008.  This weblog is dedicated to everything and anything to do with patent litigation, whether it be:

• infringement issues
• appeals against refusal to register
• revocation, cancellation and amendment of existing patents
• ownership and transactional disputes
• discovery/disclosure
• privilege and professional ethics
• evidence and expert witnesses