Research and analysis

Patents, Trade Marks and Designs: Unjustified Threats

Patents, trade marks and design rights are valuable intellectual property (IP) rights and a vital foundation of economic growth.

Documents

Patents, Trade Marks and Designs: Unjustified Threats

(Print cover) Patents, Trade Marks and Designs: Unjustified Threats

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(Print file) Patents, Trade Marks and Designs: Unjustified Threats

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Details

UK law provides a statutory right of redress against unjustified (or groundless) threats to sue for infringement of a patent, trade mark or design right (the threats provisions). In 2012 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) asked the Law Commission to review those statutory provisions. We published a Consultation Paper in 2013 and a Report in April 2014. The Report made 18 recommendations for reform, 15 of which were accepted by the Government outright on 26 February 2015. The remaining three were accepted in principle. Since then, the Government has asked us to draft a Bill -the Law Commission’s Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Bill (the Bill).

This is the second and final report of the project. Its main purpose is to publish and explain the Bill.

Further information on this project is available on the Law Commission website

Published 13 October 2015