News
20 November, 2020
Scottish IP court reform proposal
Ampersand’s Usman Tariq and Colin Hulme of Burness Paull LLP have issued proposals to reform Intellectual Property litigation in the Scottish courts. Their proposals are featured in The Times. The proposals include replicating some of the features of the IPEC in Scotland. The Law Society of Scotland, the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA), Copyright Licensing Agency, Intellectual Property Lawyers Association, Scotch Whisky Association, Harris Tweed Authority, the NatWest Group (formerly RBS), Sky UK, PPL and more have supported the proposals. The next step is to formally submit the proposals to the Scottish Civil Justice Council for consideration.
Usman Tariq said “IP is the most valuable type of asset in the world and there’s more innovation in IP and intangible assets than in bricks and mortar,” he argues, adding: “In Scotland, the number of applications for registered design rights, trademarks and patents went up in 2019, whereas there was generally a fall across the board in the UK. As a country we seem to be punching above our weight when it comes to innovation and that needs to be maintained into having good processes in place to protect those rights.”
A full discussion of the proposals are in an article called “The Scottish IP Court – A Case For Reform” 2020 S.L.T (2), 7.
The Times article can be viewed here (paywall).