Call for evidence outcome

Review of the IP enforcement framework: Call for Evidence

This call for evidence has closed

Detail of outcome

The government believes having a framework for the effective, proportionate, and accessible enforcement of IP rights is important. It helps to reduce IP crime and infringement, whilst promoting innovation and creativity.

The aim of the call for evidence was to gain evidence about issues rights holders may face enforcing their IP rights. We also wanted to understand which parts of the framework work well.

We received a total of 88 responses to the call for evidence and a summary of these responses is included.

The response also includes steps the government can take to improve rights holders’ experiences when using the IP framework.

The government thanks the working group for their help and thanks all those who responded to the call for evidence.


Original call for evidence

Summary

This informal Call for Evidence seeks views on the cost and effectiveness of judicial processes when protecting IP rights in the UK.

This call for evidence ran from
to

Call for evidence description

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the government agency responsible for ensuring that the IP framework enables businesses and individuals to protect and enforce their IP rights. The IPO develops policies to ensure that the IP enforcement legal framework is up-to-date and fit for purpose. This framework can be described as the tools which can be used to protect a creation or invention from being used without the owner’s consent.

In our IP Enforcement 2020 Strategy, we committed to reviewing existing methods of legal recourse for IP infringement to ensure they are effective, consistent, and proportionate. This Call for Evidence is to gather information to feed into the review. We welcome responses from all IP rights holders who have used or thought about using the framework to protect or defend their IP rights.

There are three key themes for the review; the cost of legal challenges, how accessible and effective the judicial process is, and improvements to the Small Claims Track. There is an additional section focussed on the inclusion of registered designs in the Small Claims Track. Only respond to the theme(s) which are relevant to you.

Respond to the Call for Evidence by filling in the response template at the bottom of this page. Email the template to enforcement@ipo.gov.uk. The deadline for this has been extended from 2 November 2020 to 9 November 2020 to allow extra time for responses to be submitted.

Documents

Published 5 October 2020
Last updated 1 July 2021 + show all updates
  1. Government response on Calls for views: Enforcement framework published.

  2. Deadline extension added.

  3. First published.