It's no secret that patent litigation is expensive in both the UK and the USA. The cost of an average US patent case, where $1 million to $25 million is at stake, is $1.6 million through the completion of discovery and $2.8 million through to final disposition, according to the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
For patent infringement proceedings in the Royal Courts of Justice in London the full litigation costs are of a similar magnitude. A £10 million claim would likely require a quarter of a million pounds expended upon it through to the completion of the discovery process (now referred to in the UK Rules as “disclosure”) and the costs of litigation through to final disposition might well reach £2 to £3 Million in solicitors and counsel’s fees. But the nature of the UK system makes it far more likely that the case will not go to trial. Additionally, because of recently implemented changes in the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), it is highly likely that litigation proceedings in the Royal Courts of Justice will rarely be issued or served in patent infringement cases. Instead, and at a very early stage, the parties will settle their infringement claims either by mediation or legally binding arbitration - a situation which is likely to be a win-win for business and the courts. Additionally, speculative ‘Patent Trolling’ litigation is not something that is a problem in UK patent courts.