IPcopy was pleased to attend the London based version of the UPC Rules of Procedure Consultation Event for Stakeholders yesterday hosted by Bristows LLP in conjunction with the IPO, CIPA and the IP Federation. We will have a post along shortly (update: this can now be found here) highlighting some of the sections in the rules that are causing a few headaches but in the meantime it is interesting to note some of the comments made by Kevin Mooney who has, of course, been heavily involved in the mammoth task of preparing the various draft rules documents.

In a process involving so many interested parties and a back story that stretches over 40 years it comes as no real surprise when it was acknowledged that some of the “hot topics” of discussion in the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court have arisen due to the level of compromise needed between the various participating member states.

However, what raised our eyebrows a little was the admission that some of the issues have arisen because alternative, and possibly better rules formulations, have been blocked on political grounds.

Faced with the knowledge that compromise and political manoeuvring have played their part you might wonder whether it’s worth responding to the consultation.

Well, in our opinion, if you don’t try there’s definitely no way the rules will be changed to your liking! So, we encourage everyone to follow the advice of Neil Feinson, Director of International Policy at the IPO, when he requested everyone with comments to submit them by the deadline of 1 October and to keep the IPO informed (email: UnifiedPatentCourtTaskforce@ipo.gov.uk) of what you’ve sent in.

Mark Richardson  4 September 2013