The Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Act 2017

The Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Act 2017 was one of the final Bills to receive Royal Assent this week before the dissolution of Parliament. The Act aims to tackle game-playing by intellectual property rights holders, which may distort competition or stifle innovation. In particular, it relates to ‘groundless threats’ of intellectual property infringement proceedings, introducing a two-part test for a groundless threat, provides guidance on ‘safe harbour’ communications with secondary infringers and introduces a ‘reasonable steps’ defence.