The first reading of the Intellectual Property Bill took place on 9 May 2013; it was then considered by UK Parliament between May 2013 and April 2014. It received Royal Assent on 14 May 2014 and became law as the Intellectual
\nProperty Act 2014.<\/p>\n
A key part of the Intellectual Property Act is the creation of new powers for the UK to implement the Unified Patent Court Agreement, but the time scales for this are still unclear. Whilst a statement from BIS states that the necessary measures are expected to be implemented by late 2015, even then, the UK still has the option of holding back its actual deposit of the UK\u2019s instrument of ratification should it chose to. Deposit is the final formal requirement for ratification. For example, both Belgium and Malta have approved the UPC agreement, but not yet deposited their instruments of ratification. Given the lack of information regarding fees for the Unitary Patent and the Unitary Patent Court, it would seem unlikely for the UK to formally ratify before these are finalised.<\/p>\n
The Intellectual Property Act also provides new protections for designers and clarification for businesses when protecting their designs. It also introduces a number of online services to help businesses better manage their intellectual property. The proposed provisions around criminal penalties for copying UK registered designs were proven to be the most controversial aspects during the consideration of the IP Bill by Parliament. The sanctions are now limited to the deliberate copying of a registered design; intentionally copying and commercially exploiting someone else\u2019s registered design could result in a fine and a prison sentence of up to ten years.<\/p>\n
The IP Act includes measures that the UKIPO hopes will:<\/p>\n
The first reading of the Intellectual Property Bill took place on 9 May 2013; it was then considered by UK Parliament between May 2013 and April 2014. It received Royal …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":315,"featured_media":9004111222102720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[497,509],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knowledge-hub","category-legal-updates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n