Specialist intellectual property court could come to Manchester

Speaking at the recent Appleyard Lees' seminar His Honour Judge Colin Birss QC said he would be happy to bring the Patents County Court (PCC) to Manchester and could see good reasons for doing so.

Birss was in Manchester to 'pitch' litigation to an audience of young intellectual property (IP) professionals and promote the benefits the PCC can offer SMEs.

The PCC is a specialist court which can offer a low cost and simplified alternative to High Court litigation for patent, trade mark, copyright and design disputes.  The Court has been in existence since the early 90's but it was given a shake up last year with a new regime introduced to make IP litigation more straightforward and affordable to SMEs.

Birss voiced the advantages of bringing cases to the PCC.  Unlike in the High Court there is a £50k cap on the legal costs the losing party must pay.  This is intended to provide greater cost certainty and encourage SMEs to take action to protect their IP rights without the fear of legal costs escalating out of control.

Birss went on to give some helpful hints on how to bring a case to the PCC.  “The new rules require pleadings to be in more detail. That is important but it is not intended to lead to parties submitting huge files of information.  It is much more useful to plead sensibly and come to court with a simple claim chart” said Birss.  This and features such as the cost/benefit test applied by the PCC to ensure that only the true issues are discussed are designed to streamline the trial procedure keeping costs down.

Birss was keen to persuade young IP professionals that they should be getting involved and representing clients before the PCC.

Birss concluded his presentation with a suggestion that a Northern PCC might one day open in Manchester

Graham Johnson, partner at Appleyard Lees' Manchester office commented "We are delighted Colin Birss was able to come to Manchester and deliver such a positive message.  There are many innovative SMEs in the North West and it would be great to see the PCC conducting trials in Manchester".