BIA submission to UKIPO consultation on Substantive Patent Law Harmonisation

The BIA has responded to the UK Intellectual Property Office’s consultation on Substantive Patent Law Harmonisation (SPLH). The consultation was part of a Europe-wide exercise to collate feedback from stakeholders on proposed norms governing the grace period, prior user rights and conflicting applications. 

In our submission, we highlighted that whilst global patent harmonisation is a laudable aim in and of itself which is supported by the BIA, the Group B+ is asked to have in mind all users of the patent system when agreeing any compromise package, specifically smaller companies that do not have the same capabilities to navigate complex systems as do larger companies.