Thinking of taking the PCC route? This is what is might look like ...

Here's something of a novelty.  The high cost of litigation design infringement in the United Kingdom has often been cited as a reason why design protection law in that jurisdiction fails design owners, irrespective of the [oft-criticised] adequacy or otherwise of the substantive law on design rights.   To this end, strenuous efforts have been made to make the Patents County Court, England and Wales, a cheaper, more informal and far easier forum for the remedy of design rights grievances.

Jane Lambert

Now Jane Lambert ("Patents County Court: Case Management Directions") has drafted what she describes as "typical case management directions in an unregistered design rights case" which you can read on JDSupra, here. For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the litigation system in England and Wales, a case management conference takes place before trial, at the point at which the judge decides how and indeed where the action should proceed.  As Jane puts it:

"They present the only opportunity to stay an action or transfer it to another court. They are the occasion when the court decides the issues are to be tried, what evidence it will allow and the date for trial. There can be no disclosure, exchange of witness statements, expert reports, cross examination or even skeleton arguments without an order of the court. Unless the court makes an order at the case management conference it will be reluctant to make one later [This is designed to keep proceedings as streamlined and highly-focused as possible; the list also embraces consumer surveys, which a well-funded party may be happy to pay for and which may be particularly relevant where an action is founded on the overlapping claims of passing off and design infringement].

Claimants have a duty to apply for case management directions within 14 days of service of the defence. If they fail to do so within that time another party can apply for directions or the court can order a case management conference on its own initiative. At the hearing, which can take place by telephone or video link, the court will identify the issues in dispute from the statements of case, consider the evidence that it needs to hear to resolve them, fix a date for trial and set a timetable for disclosure, exchange of witness statements, preparation of trial bundles, lodging of skeletons and handing down of judgment".

Jane's draft is succinct (occupying no more than five sheets of paper, with plenty of white space) and altogether very helpful. This blogger hopes that it will give parties that little bit more confidence in deciding to enforce their design rights before the Patents County Court.