UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Nicola Dagg, Jin Ooi, Ray Cheng and Nevyn Fournel, Kirkland & Ellis
validity are handed down as part of the same judgment.
claim and an Acknowledgement of Service being filed. • Reply and defence to counterclaim – the claimant’s response to the defence and any counterclaims, along with their own counter- arguments, which shall occur within 21 days of the service of the defence and counter- claim. • Case management conference – a pivotal stage where directions to trial are set, encom- passing aspects such as disclosure, fact and expert evidence, and experiments. • Experiments – providing notice of and con- ducting any necessary experiments as part of the evidentiary process. • Fact and expert evidence – gathering and presenting both fact and expert evidence, with the number and scope of witnesses determined at the case management confer- ence or through mutual agreement. • Trial – the culmination of proceedings, where infringement and validity issues are typically addressed in a single trial hearing. Multi- ple trials may occur if multiple patents are asserted, each requiring a separate trial. The Trial In patent litigation proceedings in England and Wales, there is typically only a single trial hearing to determine infringement and validity issues. However, multiple trials may occur if a claim- ant asserts more than one patent, necessitating separate trials for each patent. Witnesses Parties in patent litigation may rely on both fact and expert evidence. The case manage- ment conference determines the number of witnesses and the timeline and scope of their evidence unless agreed otherwise. The type and number of witnesses depend on the nature and complexity of the proceedings. Fact witness-
5. Trial and Settlement 5.1 Special Procedural Provisions for Intellectual Property Rights Typical Timeline of Patent Infringement Proceedings In intellectual property rights proceedings, pat- ent litigation proceedings in England and Wales follow a relatively structured timeline prescribed by the Civil Procedure Rules and the Patents Court guide. The Patents Court endeavours to bring all patent cases on for trial within 12 months of the claim being issued (not including cases being expedited or streamlined by other means such as the shorter trial scheme) (see the Chancellor of the High Court’s Practice State- ment dated 1 February 2022). The typical timeline of patent litigation proceed- ings involves several key procedural steps out- lined below. • Issue of proceedings – commencement of the proceedings by filing the necessary docu- ments to initiate the case. • Acknowledgment of service – the defendant’s formal acknowledgement of the proceedings. This step is taken 14 days after service of the claim. Whilst this step is not required, it is typically taken as it allows additional time for service of the defence. The following dead- lines assume an acknowledgement of service has been filed. • Defence and counterclaim – presentation of the defendant’s response and any counter- claims they may have. Under CPR 63.7, this shall occur within 42 days of service of the
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