§ Mr. Stanbrookasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will propose an amendment to current patent law so as to permit the issue of the invalidity of a patent to be considered by the Comptroller-General of Patents without the consent of the proprietor as an alternative to action in the High Court and subject to a power to refer individual cases to the High Court where appropriate.
§ Mr. PattieUnder the current patent law, the revocation of a patent and hence its validity may already be considered by the comptroller without the consent of the proprietor. However, an action for the infringement of a patent, in which invalidity may be raised by way of defence, may only be considered by the comptroller with the agreement of both parties. We are now examining the444W issue of patent litigation in our consideration of the Green Paper "Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation" Cmnd. 9117.