Why the patents system needs a revamp

When British inventor James Dyson won £4 million in damages from Hoover, a rival vacuum cleaner manufacturer, for infringing one of his company’s patents, he saw the risk of losing the case, had his firm been smaller. Mr Dyson – he had yet to be knighted – explained that high costs and an effective bias towards infringers meant many small UK companies felt unable to seek redress over stolen intellectual property (IP).