Costs in the IPO
This article was prompted by the decision of Mr. Phil Thorpe in Farr v Orbis Corp. (No. 2) BL/0/469/11 23 Dec 2011 where the hearing officer refused to award the defendant costs off the scale published in Tribunal Practice Note ("TPN") 2/2000 as amended by TPN 4/2007 against a litigant in person. As the time for appealing has not yet run out, and as I represented the claimant at the costs hearing, it would be wrong for me to say anything more about that particular case. Rather I wish to explore the Comptroller's jurisdiction to award costs for proceedings in the Intellectual Property Office. S.107 (1) of the Patents Act 1977 provides: "The comptroller may, in proceedings before him under this Act, by order award to any party such costs or, in Scotland, such expenses as he may consider reasonable and direct how and by what parties they are to be paid." In Rizla Ltd.'s Application [1993] RPC 365 Anthony Watson QC confirmed that that section confers ...