In
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
patent law
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
, a certificate of contested validity is an order usually made by the Patent Office, Patents Court (a division of the
High Court) or
Patents County Court
The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC; previously the Patents County Court or PCC) in London is an alternative venue to the High Court for bringing legal actions involving intellectual property matters such as patents, registered desi ...
after a
patent infringement
Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may v ...
action in which the
validity
Validity or Valid may refer to:
Science/mathematics/statistics:
* Validity (logic), a property of a logical argument
* Scientific:
** Internal validity, the validity of causal inferences within scientific studies, usually based on experiments
** ...
of the
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
is unsuccessfully challenged.
Section 65 of the UK Patents Act 1977 allows the Court to make such an order. If the patent is enforced again against another infringer, and the validity of the patent is unsuccessfully challenged again, the second infringer is penalised by way of an award of
indemnity costs - i.e. legal costs above the usual scale and closer to the actual costs incurred by the patentee in defending the challenge.
See also
*
Non-binding opinion (United Kingdom patent law) In United Kingdom patent law, a non-binding opinion is a statutory right under sections 74A and 74B of the Patents Act 1977, which allows for any member of the public to make an enquiry into the validity or infringement of a patent and provide for r ...
References
* UK Patents Act 1977, section 6
United Kingdom patent law
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