The Patents Rules are the procedural and
administrative guidelines to the working of the Patent Office, and
the current set of rules was published in 1995.
"We suggest that it is time for a substantial
modernisation of the 1995 Rules," said the Patent Office in its new
proposal. "The most significant proposal is a completely new
approach to the rules on litigation at the Patent Office, with a
set of generic rules of procedure which better reflect current
litigation practice."
"Other proposals concern the removal of some
fee-bearing forms, introduction of a Welsh language scheme,
updating of some formal requirements (in particular to set out
requirements in respect of sequence listings), and updating of
provisions generally to reflect modern working practices – such as
the availability of documents over the internet and the electronic
filing of patent applications," said the office.
One of the main changes is in relation to the
rules for litigation. "At present, every type of dispute has its
own collection of rules, which means that the structure of the
Patents Rules is unnecessarily complex," said the Office's
consultation document.
"Furthermore, many of the specific rules on
litigation are very repetitious, with similar procedural points
being repeated for each of the disputes which can arise. As a
result these rules occupy a disproportionate amount of space in the
Rules as a whole."
"Most importantly, there is a significant
range of matters on which the existing Rules are largely silent,
including the case management powers which the Office is
increasingly exercising in order to simplify and accelerate
proceedings and reduce their cost to customers," said the document.
"Thus we propose to replace all these rules with a single, common
set of rules that apply, so far as possible, to all types of
dispute."
