History

The Patents Court is part of the Chancery Division of the High Court.

The Judge in Charge of the Patents Court is Mr Justice Meade.

The first specialist patents judge was Lloyd-Jacob J, who was appointed in 1950. He and his successors ran a patents list, but there was no patents court as such. The Patents Court was created in 1980 by section 96 of the Patents Act 1977, which was subsequently repealed and replaced by section 60 of the Senior Courts Act 1981.

The Patents Court consists of a number of assigned judges of the Chancery Division of the High Court and operates in accordance with specialised rules contained in CPR Part 63. Past members of the Patents Court include Lord Hoffmann, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, and Lord Kitchin, as well as several past and current members of the Court of Appeal.