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 Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, c ...

matters such as patents,

registered designs {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Commonwealth of Australia's ''Designs Act 2003'' replaced the ''Designs Act 1906''. The legislation assists in the protection of the overall appearance of a product resulting from one or more visual features of ...

, trade marks, unregistered design rights and copyright. Hearings are usually conducted in the Thomas More Building at the

Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...

site in the Strand, or at the

Rolls Building The Rolls Building is a judicial court complex on Fetter Lane in the City of London that is used by the High Court of Justice (one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales). It houses the commercial and property business of the Chancery Division ...

in Fetter Lane.

Original establishment

Originally established in 1990 by an order made under Section 287 (1) of the

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988c 48, also known as the CDPA, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received Royal Assent on 15 November 1988. It reformulates almost completely the statutory basis of copyright law ...

,The Patents County Court (Designation and Jurisdiction) Order 1990 SI No. 1496. This was subsequently revoked and replaced by The Patents County Court (Designation and Jurisdiction) Order 1994 SI No. 1609, which has in turn been amended by The High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction (Amendment) Order 2005 SI No. 587. the intention was that the PCC should be a forum where simpler cases could be dealt with under a cheaper and more streamlined procedure than the High Court. In practice, following the

Woolf Reforms The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) were introduced in 1997 as per the Civil Procedure Act 1997 by the Civil Procedure Rule Committee and are the rules of civil procedure used by the Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice, and County Courts in civil ...

of 1998, the streamlined procedure is now available in all courts. One remaining difference was that cases at the PCC can be argued by

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

s or

patent attorney A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing patent applications and op ...

s, rather than having to be presented by separate qualified barristers.

2010 revitalisation

In order to revitalise the court and provide some procedural distinction from the High Court, a new set of procedural rules were introduced in Autumn 2010, at the same time that (as he then was) His Honour

Colin Birss Sir Colin Ian Birss (born 28 January 1964 in Thurso) is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. Career Birss attended Largs Academy and then Lancaster Royal Grammar School. He graduated from Downing College, Cambridge in 1986 wit ...

was appointed as the judge of the PCC. These rules meant that much more detail was required in the particulars of claim (the document that sets out the claimant's case), the procedure as a whole was streamlined further (no disclosure, no examination in chief of expert witness, tight control by the Judge of the issues that go to trial) and financial limits were introduced to both the damages (at £500,000) and the legal costs (at £50,000, with an additional cap per stage) recoverable. Trials should last no more than two days. The revitalised court has been generally viewed as a success.

Move to the High Court

As of 1 October 2013, the PCC was reformulated as the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, a specialist subdivision of the Business and Property Courts within the High Court. Whilst the IPEC is now part of the High Court, Patent and Trade Mark attorneys retain their rights of audience and litigation. Cases can be transferred from the IPEC list to be heard by the main High Court at the discretion of the IPEC; the High Court also routinely transfers cases from its list to the IPEC. As with the High Court, appeals from IPEC decisions (if leave to appeal is granted) are heard by the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

.Civil Procedure Rules Practice Direction 52, paragraph 2A.2(2).

Judges

Cases are heard by the judge or an appointed deputy judge. Since the founding of the court, there have been four judges: * September 1990 to September 2000 : Peter Ford * Autumn 2001 to Autumn 2010 : Judge Michael Fysh QC * Autumn 2010 to Summer 2013: Colin Birss QC * December 2013 onward: Richard Hacon

References

{{reflist

External links

The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court on the Ministry of Justice's site

The Work of the Patents County Court
by Judge Michael Fysh QC, (Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre (OIPRC) Working Paper Series No 3, February 2003).
UK Patents County Court - Phoenix Risen?
by Michael Burdon, partner at Olswang solicitors, (Patent World, July/August 2003). Courts of England and Wales United Kingdom patent law Intellectual property adjudication bodies