Patents County Court (Financial Limits) Order 2011

Lord Young of Norwood Green Excerpts

Tuesday 29th March 2011 Grand Committee

[Lord Cotter]

My Lords, I am glad that the issue of patents is being addressed today. There is no question that SMEs in particular have disadvantages when it comes to patenting products, particularly worldwide, so anything that can happen to encourage SMEs to embark on the patenting route is to be welcomed. At another occasion, another time, I may emphasise that point.

As the Minister said, the Patents County Court was created to help SMEs by providing an affordable forum for litigation, but it has been found that improvements are necessary, and today we start on that process. In saying that, though, I welcome the fact that within the regulation there is a requirement to review within three years how this process has progressed. Obviously, at the end of it, if any further measures are required, I would certainly support the Minister from these Benches.

SMEs will need to be told about this measure and many similar ones. I see that the benefits will be publicised through the e-mail notification system, which communicates with more than 400 stakeholders. Can we be sure that this means of communicating information will effectively reach SMEs throughout the country? If the Minister cannot provide a detailed answer today, perhaps the matter might be taken away to ensure that SMEs hear effectively and clearly about the measure. On that basis, I am happy to support it and will be glad to hear the Minister's response in due course.

[Lord Young of Norwood Green]

My Lords, we, too, welcome the proposed legislation. I reflected as the noble Baroness moved the legislation that—if I may paraphrase—justice overpriced is justice denied. The report of Lord Justice Jackson provides welcome assistance to SMEs by reducing the cost of protecting patents and designs in disputes and by allowing claims of up to £500,000, excluding interest, to be heard in patent courts.

It is a pity that we will need further secondary legislation to include IP rights such as copyrights and trademarks. It is a shame that this could not be done in parallel legislation. Perhaps that would not have been possible, but I would welcome an explanation of why there has been a delay and why we could not do both at the same time, given the importance of these areas. I, too, welcome the Minister’s comments on intellectual property insurances. Again, if that helps SMEs and entrepreneurs, it will be valuable.

I have a concern about the post-implementation review. Three years is a long time. Perhaps some consideration could be given to shortening that period. After two years a fair body of evidence should be available. Again, I do not know how practical that is. I concur with the noble Lord, Lord Cotter, on the importance of communicating these important changes to SMEs. With those comments and questions, I, too, welcome the proposed legislation.

[Baroness Wilcox]

My Lords I am grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in our discussions today. My noble friend Lord Cotter welcomed a review after three years and felt that further measures might be required, which he would support at the time if he thought that they were right. My noble friend Lord Cotter and the noble Lord, Lord Young, asked how we would communicate with people and whether we would use means other than the internet. E-mail will reach all SMEs. The e-mail notification system includes a large number of representative bodies—we knew that. We will also hold seminars in which Judge Arnold will cover the changes to practices. This is news to me; I thank noble Lords for asking the question because I now know the answer.

As a past chairman of the National Consumer Council, I am very keen to make sure that people get the information that they want in the way they want it. If there is any question that we need to communicate in another way, we will certainly look at it.

The noble Lord, Lord Young, asked why we do not have parallel legislation on copyright and trademarks. Lord Justice Jackson included recommendations to reduce the cost of intellectual property litigation in his review of civil litigation costs. His recommendations included implementing the package of proposals made by the Intellectual Property Court users’ committee. These were intended to reform the Patents County Court. We were able to expedite the completion of stage one of this process through amendments to the civil procedure rules. These introduced simpler procedures and fixed the scale of recoverable costs. Stage two of the package could only be achieved through the lengthier process of this Privy Council order and this will introduce a damage limit of £500,000, which will ensure that lower-value complex cases are automatically heard in the cheaper patents county courts and not the High Court. I hope that that is some form of clarification. If it is not, we will certainly write to make sure that I have expressed it clearly.

The noble Lords, Lord Young and Lord Cotter, asked about waiting for the three-year review. The Intellectual Property Office is working regularly with the judiciary to see how these changes will progress. I do not know whether that answers the question on the second and third years.

I am very glad that we are all agreed that this is a good package of measures. Not only is the introduction of the damages limit a positive move to reduce the uncertainty of civil litigation for smaller businesses, but the collective packages of changes being undertaken satisfies several of the recommendations made by Lord Justice Jackson and his independent review of civil litigation costs. We need to help small businesses protect and profit from their innovation and creativity. By allowing this measure to complement the wider package being developed, we will be providing small businesses with clarity, with certainty and with confidence. I commend the order to the Committee.