Enforcement through the courts

Strategy

What are the most effective ways for a patent owner to enforce its rights in your jurisdiction?

The Patents Court or the IP Enterprise Court hears claims for patent infringement. The IP Enterprise Court provides a streamlined and more cost-effective forum to hear lower-value and less complex IP claims than the Patents Court.

What scope is there for forum selection?

There is normally a £500,000 cap on damages and a £50,000 cap on legal costs that a successful party can claim in the IP Enterprise Court. Claims exceeding £500,000 or those requiring complex evidence are normally heard in the Patents Court. If either party in a Patents Court or IP Enterprise Court case believes that the other court is a more appropriate forum, it can apply for the dispute to be transferred (although the case will be transferred only if it is appropriate in the circumstances). 

Pre-trial

What are the stages in the litigation process leading up to a full trial?

No specific pre-action procedure exists for patent disputes. After filing and serving the claim form, the particulars of the claim and infringement are served. The defendant may file a counterclaim for revocation with its defence. In the Patents Court, these documents are brief, containing assertions and brief facts relied on in support. In IP Enterprise Court proceedings, the parties must set out their case and the arguments relied on more fully.

Once a claim is filed, the parties will be expected to attend a case management conference, where the court will order tailored directions to trial. In the Patents Court, the directions will normally provide for:

  • disclosure (ie, discovery), which:
  • the Patents Court generally seeks to limit to that which is necessary to dispose of the case justly and proportionately, assessed on an issue by issue basis; and
  • in the case of an alleged infringer need only be in the form of a sworn description of the product or process;
  • experiments (if appropriate);
  • an exchange of fact and expert evidence, in the form of sworn statements; and
  • increasingly, the exchange of statements of case between the parties, setting out their respective positions on the issues in dispute.

In the IP Enterprise Court, the availability of, and the ability to rely on, experimental evidence and expert and fact witness cross-examination is more limited, and the directions provide a correspondingly shorter timetable to trial.

How easy is it for defendants to delay proceedings and how can plaintiffs prevent them from doing so?

The UK courts take a proactive approach to case management and it is difficult for a party to delay proceedings without good reason. Parties may make submissions as to the directions and timing of the trial at the case management conference (or in subsequent applications), but unless there are exceptional circumstances, the court is unlikely to depart from normal practice. 

How might a party challenge the validity of a patent through the courts in anticipation of a potential suit for infringement being issued against it?

Revocation proceedings can be brought before the IP Enterprise Court or the Patents Court at any time and by anyone. There is no need to demonstrate standing in order to commence an action. Revocation proceedings are often met by a counterclaim for infringement by the patentee. Likewise, revocation proceedings may be brought as a counterclaim to infringement proceedings initiated by a patentee. 

At trial

What level of expertise can a patent owner expect from the courts?

The IP Enterprise Court and Patents Court are overseen by specialist IP judges who have a high level of technical and patent expertise. 

Are cases decided by one judge, a panel of judges or a jury?

IP Enterprise Court and Patents Court cases are decided by one judge and no jury. Cases may be appealed to the Court of Appeal, where three judges will decide the case (usually led by one or two specialist IP judges). 

If jury trials do exist, what is the process for deciding whether a case should be put to a jury?

There are no juries for patent trials in the United Kingdom. 

What role can and do expert witnesses play in proceedings?

Experts play a significant role in Patents Court proceedings. The parties will normally appoint one or two independent experts each, who will provide written evidence to the court and be made available for cross-examination at trial. Often, most of the evidence in a patent trial is in the form of expert opinions. The role of expert evidence in IP Enterprise Court proceedings is more limited in scope and confined to key issues determined in advance by the court.

Does your jurisdiction apply a doctrine of equivalents and, if so, how?

For a number of years, the UK courts adopted a ‘purposive’ approach to claim construction, under which the relevant question was what a person skilled in the art would have understood the patentee to have used the language of the claim to mean. Under the purposive approach, there was no justification for extending or going beyond the definition of the technical matter for which the patentee sought protection in the claims. However, in the landmark ruling of Actavis v Eli Lilly ([2017] UKSC 48), the Supreme Court rejected this approach and in effect introduced a doctrine of equivalents into English law for the first time (in particular, finding that a variant which falls outside the claims as a matter of normal interpretation may nonetheless infringe where it varies from the invention in a way which is immaterial).

Is it possible to obtain preliminary injunctions? If so, under what circumstances?

Preliminary injunctions are available in the United Kingdom. The award of a preliminary injunction is at the court’s discretion, taking into account a number of principles, including whether:

  • there is a serious issue to be tried; and
  • granting or withholding an injunction is more or less likely to cause irremediable harm and to which party. 

In recent years preliminary injunctions have been awarded against generic pharmaceuticals that have been launched without first attempting to ‘clear the way’ of relevant third-party patents.

Where a patentee obtains a preliminary injunction, it will normally be expected to provide a cross-undertaking in damages, to compensate the counterparty for any loss suffered should it emerge that the injunction should not have been granted (ie, because the patent is later held to be invalid or not infringed at trial).  

How are issues around infringement and validity treated in your jurisdiction?

Where there are both infringement and revocation proceedings in relation to the same patent, the courts will normally hear them together as part of the same action.

Will courts consider decisions in cases involving similar issues from other jurisdictions?

The courts will consider decisions from other jurisdictions – particularly where they relate to similar legal principles or the application of issues of European law. In particular, the courts will consider settled case law of the Technical Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office.

Damages and remedies

Can the successful party obtain costs from the losing party?

The losing party normally must pay the successful party a significant proportion of its costs, which will typically be determined on an issue-by-issue basis.

What are the typical remedies granted to a successful plaintiff?

A successful claimant is typically granted a final injunction, damages, an order for destruction or delivery of the infringing goods and declarations of infringement and validity (or non-infringement and invalidity, in the case of a revocation claimant). In recent years, the Patents Court has also been willing to grant broader declarations – for example, that an alleged infringer’s product would have been anticipated or obvious at the patent’s priority date, thus providing a tool for an alleged infringer seeking to ‘clear the way’ where the patentee has created multiple layers of secondary patent protection.

How are damages awards calculated? Are punitive damages available?

A successful claimant may choose between:

  • damages (to compensate it for any loss it may have suffered as a result of the infringement); and
  • an account of profits (to recover any profits made by the defendant as a result of its infringement). 

There is no concept of punitive damages for patent infringement in UK patent law. The appropriate level of damages is often determined by considering the level of royalty that would have been paid by a willing licensee in comparable circumstances.

How common is it for courts to grant permanent injunctions to successful plaintiffs and under what circumstances will they do this?

In normal circumstances, the courts will grant permanent injunctions to successful claimants as a matter of course. However, injunctions are often stayed pending the outcome of appeals. 

Timescale and costs

How long does it take to obtain a decision at first instance and is it possible to expedite this process?

The Patents Court seeks to bring cases to trial quickly – where possible, within 12 months of the claim being issued. Expedition is possible where the court considers it warranted. The pilot Shorter Trials Scheme also applies in the Patents Court. Under the Shorter Trials Scheme – which is not deemed suitable for cases involving multiple issues, or extensive disclosure or evidence – the aim is to bring cases to trial within 10 months, with judgment within six weeks.

How much should a litigant plan to pay to take a case through to a first-instance decision?

A litigant before the Patents Court should expect to pay at least £500,000, and often considerably more where the issues are more complex. Single patent actions involving issues of infringement and revocation typically exceed £1 million in legal fees. If successful, a significant proportion of these fees can be recovered from the other side. However, if unsuccessful, the litigant will likely be ordered to compensate the other party for a significant proportion of its legal fees. Litigants before the IP Enterprise Court should expect to pay considerably less and costs awards are normally capped at £50,000.

Appeal

Under what circumstances will the losing party in a first-instance case be granted the right to appeal? How long does an appeal typically take?

Appeals can be made against IP Enterprise Court and Patents Court decisions on points of law. Permission to appeal must be sought from the first-instance judge or from the court to which the appeal is addressed (for IP Enterprise Court appeals, either the Patents Court or the Court of Appeal; and for Patents Court appeals, the Court of Appeal). The Court of Appeal aims to hear cases within 12 months and may expedite a hearing in appropriate circumstances. For cases of public importance, a further appeal may be brought to the Supreme Court. Such appeals are uncommon.

Options away from court

Are there other dispute resolution options open to parties that believe their patents to be infringed outside the courts?

Parties are generally free (and indeed encouraged) to seek alternative means of dispute resolution, such as mediation or arbitration. In the United Kingdom, there is legislation formalising the procedure and enforceability of arbitration proceedings. However, alternative dispute resolution may not be suitable where substantive issues of patent law are likely to arise.  

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