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At-a-glance: Intellectual Property Office Concept House, Cardiff Road, Newport, South Wales, NP10 8QQ, UK Tel: +44 1633 814000, Fax: +44 1633 817777 Email: information@ipo.gov.uk Website: www.ipo.gov.uk It has been a year of cautious optimism... [more]

It has been a year of cautious optimism in the UK, with a lot of work still being done in the face of a volatile market.

"In the last year we saw client confidence returning – they are beginning to feel better about spending money on IP again," comments a partner. "I think the prosecution market is really very solid," adds another.

A success story for the UK was undoubtedly the Patents County Court (PCC), which saw a lot of work this year and was unanimously praised by practitioners.

"We have seen the PCC being used more. This is because you can now get quality judgments and law firms are happy to take the client there. You know you get a damn good hearing and result and all inexpensively," says one litigation partner.

"English courts have a strong reputation. Good case management, highly respected judges, good opinions. It is a trusted court," adds another.

Some of the credit for this goes to the PCC's judge, Colin Birss: "There have been some great decisions from Colin. He gives that injection of enthusiasm," says a lawyer.

On the prosecution side, both the new unitary patent and patent box legislation have come under intense scrutiny by firms and clients. "The patent box we hope will lead to an uplift on the patent side. It's going to be important to align ourselves with accountancy firms," says one attorney, while another has reservations on who can take advantage of this new tool. "My view on the patent box is that big players can take advantage, but the accounting costs might outweigh the benefits for smaller companies," counsels one attorney.

The unitary patent is having an impact too, both on how firms operate and how their clients strategise.

"I expect to see some serious pan-European alliances springing up," predicts one partner, while clients are wary of losing their IP protection in one fell swoop: "Clients are very suspicious of the unitary patent. Some of ours feel they will just file in individual countries, which is damaging for the rationale of the thing," explains an attorney.

Another partner points out that a client's approach will also be dependent on what sector it operates in: "In something like telecoms it's ok, you can risk it. You have many patents there. But pharma clients won't run that risk, and will file nationally."