Mediation in Intellectual Property and Licensing

 

 

Discussion included reference to the Patents Office initiative on mediation and other similar initiatives: see for example:

 

·         http://www.ipo.gov.uk/patent/p-manage/p-useenforce/p-useenforce-dispute/p-useenforce-dispute-mediation.htm

·         http://www.ipo.gov.uk/mediationmodel.pdf

 

In IDA and others and University of Southampton [2006] EWCA Civ 145, Lord Justice Jacob said:

“Parties to these disputes should realise that, if fully fought, they can be protracted, very, very expensive and emotionally draining. On top of that, very often development or exploitation of the invention under dispute will be stultified by the dead hand of unresolved litigation. That may be the case here: there has not yet been any exploitation by either side, some 8 years after the original PCT application. It will often be better to settle early for a smaller share than you think you are entitled to – a small share of large exploitation is better than a large share of none or little….This sort of dispute is particularly apt for early mediation.”

http://www.bailii.org/cgi-bin/markup.cgi?doc=/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2006/145.html