Special Feature Theo Savvides - Osborne Clarke
Theo Savvides is a Partner at Osborne Clarke. Osborne Clarke is a full-service law firm that specialises in the digital business, life sciences, energy and utilities, automotive, financial services, real estate, and infrastructure sectors. Theo is an intellectual property litigator, specialising in Patent Litigation.
S Q
ir James Dyson has called on the Government to simplify the patent system so small businesses can afford to protect their designs. Sir James Dyson is one of the most respected
and successful inventors in the UK, and (based on what I know of him) he’s made a success of the inventions he’s created through the successful exploitation of the Patent system. He created his business from its beginnings himself, and has had to go through the trials and tribulations of the Patent System.
He has commented that it can easily cost £3m to fight a case in
the UK, and “tens of millions of dollars” in the US. He suggested elements of the “simpler” German and French patent systems could be adopted in the UK to reduce the length, cost and complexity of cases. Do you think this could work?
The UK litigation process is adversarial. Consequently it involves documentary disclosure, witness evidence, and a full trial with cross examination of witnesses.
The French and German systems don’t have the same level of inspection and interrogation. It isn’t available for each party to interrogate the other party's case as significantly as the UK system. On one side, the UK system probably leads to a fuller examination of the issues in the case, but on the other leads to significant increase of costs.
There have been moves to improve the position in the UK. In particular new procedures have been introduced into the
Patent County Court for less complex, lower value disputes below £500,000. The Patents County Court Judges have broad case management powers and are able to limit or even dispense with some of the procedures that push up the costs, i.e., documentary disclosure, expert evidence or cross- examination.
against that would be that if it is a higher value dispute, you would expect the parties to be prepared to pay higher costs, for a greater level of interrogation and inspection of the case, given its importance. However, if you are an SME this is no comfort as you are suffering a significant level of damage without having the money upfront to finance it.
Sir James Dyson is one of the most respected and successful inventors in the
UK, and (based on what I know of him) he’s made a success of the inventions he’s created through the successful exploitation of the Patent system.
Q
What changes would you like to see happen?
Where the disputes are of a higher value, (over £500,000) the Patents County Court is not an option. The question is: Is there scope to introduce some procedures and case management powers from the Patents County Court in the High Court? The argument
Contact: Theo Savvides One London Wall London EC2Y 5EB
Tel: +44 20 7105 7536 Email:
theo.savvides@
osborneclarke.com
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