Not one, not two but three different patent related consultations have popped up in the last week or so, relating variously to the implementation of the Intellectual Property Act 2014, the implementation of the Unified Patent Court in the UK and the European Patent Litigation Certificate (required for European Patent Attorneys to have the right to represent clients in the Unified Patent Court).

The various consultations, their deadlines and a brief overview of each consultation are noted below. We’ll try and chime in with some more detailed thoughts in follow up posts.

Taking them in the order of their closing dates, we have:

1) Amendment of the Patent Rules 2007

Issued by: UKIPO

Closing date: 4 July 2014 (at 11.45pm)

The Intellectual Property Act 2014 allows for the scope of the Patents Opinion Service to be expanded. It also clarifies the need for the payment of renewal fees following restoration of a European patent (UK).

The UKIPO is now seeking views on the implementation of these changes, including proposed amendments to the Patents Rules 2007.

The consultation document can be accessed here. This consultation also appears on the UKIPO’s page of live consultations.

2) European Patent Litigation Certificate

Issued by: the Legal Working Group of the Preparatory Committee

Closing date: 25 July 2014 (midnight)

The Legal Working group’s revised proposals for the European Patent Litigation Certificate can be found here. There is also an explanatory memorandum that fills in some of the details surrounding this issue.

Comments on this consultation need to be sent electronically to secretariat@unified-patent-court.org. For such an important consultation this is a short consultation of only 6 weeks in length.

An earlier draft of the proposal for the EPLC was reviewed in this IPcopy post.

3) Secondary Legislation Implementing the Unified Patent Court

Issued by: UKIPO

Closing date: 2 September 2014 (at 11.45pm)

The UKIPO is seeking views on the draft legislation which will allow for the implementation of the Unified Patent Court Agreement and the associated EU Regulations which introduce the Unitary Patent.

The consultation document which is snappily entitled “Technical Review and Call for Evidence on Secondary Legislation Implementing the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court and EU Regulations Establishing the Unitary Patent” can be found here. There are also a number of supporting documents: (i) Impact assessment: UPC implementation infringement; (ii) Impact assessment: UPC implementation jurisdiction; (iii) Impact assessment: UPC implementation infringement Unitary Patent; and, (iv) Statement of innovation.

The economic assessments in the first three supporting documents are blank and are accompanied by statements like: “We are unable to fully monetise the costs at this stage. We will be asking questions at consultation which should help
inform us.”

This consultation also appears on the UKIPO’s page of live consultations.

Mark Richardson  17 June 2014