The cost of defending patents, trademarks or copyrighted materials against infringement in the Patent County Court (PCC) is to be capped at £50,000 from Friday (October 1).

The Ministry of Justice has introduced the measure as part of its effort to "promote access to justice at proportionate costs", following a review by Lord Justice Jackson.

An independent review of the court, published last year for Lord Justice Jackson, explained the court "was created by Parliament to serve the interests of small- and medium-sized enterprises by providing an affordable forum for intellectual property litigation. The PCC has not succeeded in providing this, however.

"There are two main reasons for this. The first is the fear of having to meet a substantial, and unpredictable, adverse costs award if unsuccessful. The second is that the procedure of the PCC is itself costly, because it is identical to that of the High Court."

Robert Skone James, a partner at Gill Jennings & Every, said that these costs are the maximum possible awards and it’s unlikely the full amounts will be awarded in most cases. “Because the potential costs liability is limited, this should be of particular benefit to SMEs, which in the past have been effectively priced out of protecting their IP rights in the PCC.”