This short questionnaire seeks information to help with an assessment by the UK-IPO of the impact of the proposed European Patent Court on UK companies. It is aimed at companies and organisations holding patents.

As you may be aware, there is a proposal to establish a European Patent Court which will have jurisdiction in all countries party to setting the agreement up. A short description of the main features of the Court, based on proposals at 30th June 2008, can be accessed by clicking this link. It is hoped that the Court will reduce the need for parallel litigation in a number of countries and result in greater consistency of judgments.

We would be grateful if you would tell us about your experience of patent litigation and the associated costs. If you have views on the proposed Court, we would like to hear them. If you would be willing to have a telephone discussion on some of the issues raised in your responses to the questionnaire, we would be glad if you could provide contact details. We also ask for some background information on the numbers of patents you hold, and about your organisation.

The questionnaire which follows should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. No individual responses will be identified and all the data will be amalgamated with data from other respondents. If you feel you are not able to answer a question, please move to the next one. If you have any questions regarding this survey, please contact Sonia Cook at scook@cses.co.uk

This questionnaire is to gauge the current use of the patent litigation system by companies and organisations that are patent owners or may have been accused of patent infringement. In some cases the questionnaire may take longer than 10 minutes. Additional research will be undertaken alongside this questionnaire. If you would like to be involved, please contact scook@cses.co.uk with the following details: Name, Organisation, Industry, Contact details.