IPO This decision relates to the issue of costs, the original claim having been withdrawn. The defendants having refused to accept an initial offer requested an off-the-scale payment on the basis that not only was the original claim unlikely to succeed but that it should have been withdrawn following filing of the counterstatement. A subsequent request for disclosure by the claimant was considered by the defendants to be misconceived, and an attempt on their behalf to ‘fish’ for material that had no bearing upon the claims made in their statement of grounds. The Hearing Officer concluded that whilst the request for disclosure was somewhat speculative and could have been avoided this did not warrant an award of costs off the standard scale. An order in line with the scale was therefore made.
[2013] UKIntelP o14413
Bailii
Intellectual Property, Costs
Updated: 14 November 2021; Ref: scu.511187