As noted in our tweet last week the 14th draft of the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court have appeared online (a copy can be found here). The document runs to almost 150 pages and 382 rules so it’s something of an early Christmas present for insomniacs.
The release of the 14th draft is expected to shortly be followed by the public consultation exercise on the rules of procedure. IPcopy understands that the window for public comments could be as short as one month and we will let you know as soon as we hear more. It is noted that page 2 of the 14th draft states that it is the aim of the Drafting Committee to complete the draft rules within three months of the signature of the Agreement (which is expected to happen on 19th February).
As also noted last week the IP Federation which represents the views of UK industry has published a policy paper on rule 287 (attorney-client privilege) within the draft rules of procedure. This paper is well worth a quick look and details issues with privilege as it applies to communications with non-contracting-state advisers.
Mark Richardson 12 February 2013