The Intellectual Property Review, fifth edition, has now been published. The chapter on the UK summarises the IP court and litigation system in the UK, recent developments in relation to IP law and practice, the forms and availability of IP protection and trends and outlook in the IP sphere.

This latest edition, published by Law Business Research, contains 34 chapters. Each chapter covers a different jurisdiction, and for each, discusses the following:

  1. Forms of IP protection
  2. Recent developments
  3. Obtaining protection
  4. Enforcement of rights
  5. Trends and outlook

Gowling WLG's intellectual property specialists Gordon Harris, Andrew Maggs and Ailsa Carter have written the UK chapter of The Intellectual Property Review, fifth edition.

The book is a broad IP text but with an emphasis on patents. It provides an outline of the available intellectual property protection in each jurisdiction, including discussion of more testing aspects of patentability. Perhaps more importantly, it describes the court and litigation system in which litigants would enforce or challenge those rights.

Litigants and lawyers familiar with instructing legal teams around the world in relation to related/parallel intellectual property rights, particularly patents, will appreciate the time and learning that is necessary to develop an understanding of the court and litigation system in an unfamiliar jurisdiction. Such an understanding is a prerequisite for efficient and effective instruction in, and co-ordination of, global IP litigation strategies.

The Intellectual Property Review is a really useful tool in this context. For each jurisdiction, it contains more information than can be gleaned in many hours of calls and meetings, and follows a well-defined structure. In keeping with this, the UK chapter provides a condensed and current synopsis of the position in the UK.

The UK chapter was written before the UK's vote to leave the EU but it remains current. The UK's so called 'Brexit' vote has no legal effect: the UK remains a member of the European Union and is expected to do so until at least 2019; the law in the UK remains as it stood before the vote. The issues for IP law and rights owners arising in the context of any future departure of the UK from the EU are discussed in a chapter written by Gordon Harris and Ailsa Carter for Chambers' Legal Brexit guide, introduced here.

We are able to make available to you (linked above) the Intellectual Property Review UK chapter that we have written, along with information on the contents of the wider book. Upon request, we are also able to make available an eBook version - please direct enquiries to Gordon Harris or Ailsa Carter.