Last updated on April 13th, 2015 at 01:56 pm

Copyright owners in England and Wales will now find it much easier to protect their copyright and take action against copyright infringement after the announcement of a new small  claims procedure in something called the Patents County Court  (PCC).

This PCC small claims track is designed to speed up the court process and reduce the risk of large costs when pursuing basic copyright claims as it is based on informal hearings and no legal representation.  You should remember that there is a limit to the amount of costs you can recover in the event of you winning your claim – this is limited to £90 a day for court fees and loss of earnings with a maximum claim of £260 if you win.

It’s expected that the main people to benefit from this new scheme will be those individuals and small businesses working in the creative industries such as craft workers, photographers graphic designers and even web designers.

If the claim for copyright infringement is worth less that £5,000 (although this will increase to £10,000 in the future) and is a straight-forward claim it can be decided without the need for a formal trial but instead the hearings can be held in the judges chambers.  The plan is that the judges decision can be based on written evidence or even a telephone hearing.  According to the Business Manager Michael Fallon – small businesses will have a simpler and easier way to take their cases for intellecual property infringement forward by writing direct to the Judge and setting out the issues involved.

The main remedies available though this PCC small claims track are damages for infringement, or a share of the profits earned by the infringement, and an injunction to stop any further breach of copyright

At the time of writing there is only one PCC at Rolls Building in Fetter Lane, London EC4 but as the process is designed to be simple this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

More details of the scheme can be seen at http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/rcj-rolls-building/patents-county-court

You should also remember though that legal action should be the last resort and that the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) provides alternatives such as mediation services and tribunal hearings if you can’t settle a claim for copyright infringement bu negotiation with the person that is using your intellectual property.

Finally, as always when looking at legal matters you should check the current situation with a legally qualified person – you can find a list of selected solicitors on our local solicitors page but you need to check if they have experience in intellectual property matters.