According to the Patent Office, the service will help parties test the strength of their arguments at the Patent Office before or instead of resorting to litigation.
The advisory service covers UK patents, or European patents that designate the UK, and may be used by anyone for the cost of £200.
It is designed so that both sides of a dispute can have their say before the opinion is issued, incorporating a short delay to allow third parties to make observations on the request, and for the requester and patentee to respond. Only then will a senior patent examiner issue his opinion on the request and any observations.
The new service is a key feature of the modernising Patents Act 2004, the bulk of which has already come into force.
Other provisions of the Patents Act that also came into force on 1st October 2005 relate to renewal fee payment periods, co-ownership and revocation, security for costs and inventor confidentiality.
The only provisions of the Act that are not yet in effect are those that implement the revised European Patent Convention (EPC 2000). They will come into force when EPC 2000 does, expected to be in late 2007.
