Is low cost dispute resolution the way forward for IP law, asks Jane Foulser McFarlane
Professor Ian Hargreaves undertook a review of the UK intellectual property (IP) law last November to ascertain whether the current IP law framework is obstructing innovation and economic growth. The Hargreaves report, Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth, was published in May—the fifth IP review to have been published in the last six years and the latest to conclude that there is enormous scope for the improvement of our IP laws.
In November 2006, Andrew Gowers published the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property which set out the four necessary criteria for the adequate enforcement of IP rights:
- an awareness of IP rights;
- penalties for infringement;
- pursuit of infringers; and
- a mechanism to resolve conflict.
Jackson proposals
The Jackson Review of Civil Litigation Costs, published in January 2010, made specific recommendations for making the IP litigation system more cost-effective. These recommendations included the implementation of a small claims track in the patent county court for IP claims, with a monetary value of less than
