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ARTICLE · 03 JULY 2015

Bifurcation In The UK Courts?

Marks & Clerk
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The usual course in the UK is for patent infringement and validity proceedings to be heard together. Often one is a counterclaim to the other.

United KingdomIntellectual Property
Marks & Clerk
Marks & Clerk
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The usual course in the UK is for patent infringement and validity proceedings to be heard together. Often one is a counterclaim to the other. However, sometimes the relevant parties to each claim are different and there may be reasons to proceed with validity and infringement separately. British Gas Services Ltd v VanClare SE LLC (17 June 2015; extempore; unreported) is a case where the flexibility of the UK courts was tested.

British Gas brought patent revocation proceedings in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) against VanClare's patent relating to "Smart Meters". Prior to any defence (or counterclaim) by VanClare, separate infringement proceedings were started in the High Court against British Gas. These proceedings were by a separate entity (an exclusive licensee) controlled by the same person as VanClare. VanClare then applied for the IPEC revocation proceedings to be transferred to the High Court to be heard alongside the infringement proceedings.

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