Litigating IP in the General Court: can anyone help?
Counsel are required to attend the General Court properly attired |
The Practice Directions published last week make a total of 17 references to intellectual property. This Kat could simply cut and paste them here but, since he has never been involved in any General Court litigation and doesn't know how these Directions differ in their effect -- if indeed they do -- from their predecessors, he would really like to hear from some of his readers who practise before that court. Can they tell readers about the impact that the Directions are likely to have on the way IP disputes are litigated in terms of speed, cost, efficiency and, equally importantly, the ability of the court to deliver the right result?
Update, 13 March, 11.37am: a katpat to Simon Malynicz (3 New Square), who has emailed the Kat as follows:
"The main point to note is the new e-Curia service, which allows documents to be lodged in Luxembourg electronically without the need to provide them by post or courier. Previously this was possible by email or fax, provided the requisite number of certified hard copies arrived by courier or post within 10 days.
Details of how to use the e-Curia service are not set out in that Practice Direction, however, but are to be found in the separate e-Curia user manual, available at curia.europa.eu >General Court >Procedure. In summary, it is a free service available to lawyers (sorry, not trade mark or patent attorneys, even with rights of audience) that one opens by filling in a form on the Curia website. Documents are transmitted in PDF format. The Court then serves the other parties pleadings and responses using e-Curia also".