UK patent litigation: dawn of a new age?

With a new EU trading relationship and the Unified Patent Court a memory, UK patent litigators have plenty of reasons to be positive, argue Dominic Adair and Edward Nodder of Bristows.

Legal practitioners in the UK—more specifically, England and Wales—are fortunate to qualify into a system with a long and illustrious history.

In 1215, “Magna Carta” formalised the rule of law in England and soon after industry was being incentivised by the grant of letters patent, with a patent granted to John Kempe and his company in 1331.

Naturally, where there are patents, there is patent litigation. One of the earliest recorded patent cases in England is from 1602: Darcy v Allin, which centred on a patent for the production of playing cards, said to be infringed by Thomas Allin, a member of the Haberdashers Company, by the sale of half a gross of cards without permission, causing damage of £200 ($260).