United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

patent law A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

, a certificate of contested validity is an order usually made by the Patent Office, Patents Court (a division of the High Court) or Patents County Court after a patent infringement action in which the validity of the

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

is unsuccessfully challenged. Section 65 of the UK Patents Act 1977 allows the Court to make such an order. If the patent is enforced again against another infringer, and the validity of the patent is unsuccessfully challenged again, the second infringer is penalised by way of an award of indemnity costs - i.e. legal costs above the usual scale and closer to the actual costs incurred by the patentee in defending the challenge.

References

* UK Patents Act 1977, section 6

United Kingdom patent law {{UK-law-stub

See also

References