CHANCERY DIVISION
7 Rolls Buildings London EC4A 1NL |
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B e f o r e :
(Sitting as a judge of the High Court)
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DKH RETAIL LIMITED |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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REPUBLIC (RETAIL) LIMITED |
Defendant |
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Jacqueline Reid (instructed by Kempner & Partners) for the Defendant
Hearing dates: 26th March 2012
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Crown Copyright ©
His Honour Judge Birss QC :
The Patents County Court
Specialist List
63.3 Claims in the Patents Court and a Patents County Court form specialist lists for the purpose of rule 30.5.
Transfers
30.5 Transfer between Divisions and to and from a specialist list
[…]
(2) A judge dealing with claims in a specialist list may order proceedings to be transferred to or from that list.
(3) An application for the transfer of proceedings to or from a specialist list must be made to a judge dealing with claims in that list.
Patent cases and other cases to which Section I of part 63 applies.
The Application to Transfer
8. On 25th February 2008, the Second Defendant issued an application in the TCC to transfer the case from Cambridge County Court to the TCC. Notice of that application was given in writing to Cambridge County Court on 26th February. The Claimants subsequently took the point that the application was misconceived because it should have first been made to the county court in question.
Correct Procedure on Transfer
9. Section 41(1) of the County Courts Act 1984 provides that:
"If at any stage in proceedings commenced in a county court … the High Court thinks it desirable that the proceedings, or any part of them, should be heard and determined in the High Court, it may order the transfer to the High Court of the proceedings or, as the case may be, of that part of them."
10. Generally, an application to transfer from a county court to the High Court will be made under CPR 30.3. An application to a specialist list (such as the TCC) will be made under CPR 30.5. In each case, the application to transfer is made to the receiving court (in this case the TCC), with notice to the relevant county court. That is what happened here. Accordingly, I consider that the Claimants' solicitors were wrong to suggest that the application had first to be made to the county court pursuant to CPR 30.2(3). That rule is concerned solely with transfers from one county court to another. It is, therefore, of no application here.
11. Accordingly, the Second Defendant has followed the correct procedure by making this application on notice to the TCC. The next question is what principles and guidelines are relevant to the substance of that application.
Transfers from other county courts to the Patents County Court
Conclusion