This short CMC judgment ([2022] EWHC 2060 (Pat)) in proceedings between Cook and
By way of background, the STS was set up with the purpose of providing parties with an avenue to achieve earlier, shorter trials for reasonably sized litigation at a proportionate cost. Cases are managed by docketed judges with the aim of reaching trial within 10 months from the date of issue of the claim, and cases are streamlined with restrictions on disclosure, the length of pleadings and the degree of expert evidence. A significant advantage of the STS over the usual multi-track procedure is that the time-consuming costs budgeting requirements under the relevant civil procedural rules do not apply.
In this case, Cook had commenced a revocation action against
By the time of this CMC, however, the second patent was in issue and with the case now involving several pieces of prior art, two experts and the likelihood of experiments and fact evidence, the parties and the judge were in agreement that it needed to be transferred out of the STS.
The point of practical interest here is that, as the claimants were not prepared to certify that the value of the claim was over Ł10 million and so exempt from the cost budgeting provisions, the Judge pointed out that the default position was that the usual cost budgeting rules should apply. Parties looking to transfer claims out of the STS should therefore bear in mind that costs budgets may be required if the claim is likely to be worth less than Ł10 million.
The position on disclosure was a little unusual in that Cook sought an order for disclosure from
On statements of case, the Judge acknowledged the benefit of early and better particularisation of cases by way of statements of case on infringement and validity, and noted that their use is becoming increasingly common practice. In this case, Cook had also agreed to provide a claim chart mapping the prior art embodiments on to each claim of the patents, though the Judge refused
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