A recent case has seen two multinational corporations conduct a patent battle relating to automatic devices for cleaning showers at the Patents County Court. In Unilever v S. C. Johnson & Son [2012] EWPCC 19 Unilever succeeded in revoking a patent of S.C Johnson and having a second patent declared only partially valid. However, instead of invoking costs on each side in the millions, as is common in the Patents Court (the High Court), this case was fought with more modest resources.
In a Patents Court case each side is usually represented by patent attorneys, solicitors and barristers. More often than not, the barrister is a QC, and a junior barrister is also involved. In this case, the legal representation consisted of junior intellectual property counsel instructed by firms of patent attorneys. In the words of the judge, Birss HHJ:
"The action was commenced in the Patents County Court on 27th July 2011 and has been conducted under the PCC rules. One might ask whether a case between two multinational corporations is suitable for the PCC. Since neither side suggested the matter should be transferred, the question did not arise. I can say this much. In terms
of the issues to be decided, the case is clearly suitable for the PCC. There has been no disclosure and the evidence consists only of reports from in-house experts on both sides. ......... The trial took 1½ days. As far as I can tell it has been run expeditiously and without major cost."
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