The Queen's Speech introduces the Intellectual Property Bill

The Queen's Speech on 8 May 2013 announced the introduction of the Intellectual Property Bill (the "Bill"). The Bill is intended to deliver the remaining commitments from the Government’s response to The Queen's Speech on 8 May 2013 announced the introduction of the Intellectual Property Bill (the "Bill"). The Bill is intended to deliver the remaining commitments from the Government’s response to the Hargreaves Review and introduces the following changes:

• criminal penalties for deliberately copying UK registered designs in the course of business. It would be a defence to show that the person reasonably believed the registration of the design to be invalid;


• powers to enable the UK to implement the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court made in Brussels on 19 February 2013 (see further details on the UPC here). Before a single unitary patent can be enforced in a unified patent court, the Agreement must be ratified by the 13 signatory states. The Bill is an important first step in bringing the Agreement into effect;


• recognition that the designer, and not the commissioner of a design, is the first owner of registered and unregistered design rights;


• an opinion service for designs and an expanded opinion service for patents whereby the Intellectual Property Office can give an opinion on issues such as whether a UK design or patent is valid or being infringed. The effect of this would be to allow businesses to assess the strength of their case before they commence formal legal proceedings;


• an option for patent owners to mark their products with a web address containing details of the patent, rather than having to put the patent numbers directly on the product. This 'virtual patent marking' system is already in place in the US; and


• allowing the UK to join the Hague system, the international designs registration system which allows applicants to designate the countries in which they wish their design to be registered.

The Bill will receive its second reading in the House of Lords on 22 May 2013 when a general debate will take place.

The full text of the Bill can be found here.