Case No. IP-2018-000045

1.On 22 April 2021 I handed down my judgment in the trial of this action. A draft of the judgment had been sent to counsel on 19 April 2021. The Claimant’s claim for infringement of two patents was dismissed. The judgment was handed down remotely pursuant to the Covid-19 Protocol, being circulated on that date to the parties’ representatives by email and made public by release to Bailii. 2.On 22 April 2021 I was hearing a trial in other proceedings. The parties were informed that no attendance was required on that date to deal with matters consequential to the judgment. 3.In the normal course, when consequential matters if not agreed are adjourned to be heard, or decided on the papers, on a date after a judgment is handed down, the parties by consent seek an order adjourning the hearing at which the decision to be appealed is made until the date of the court’s ruling on consequential matters. This is often together with a direction that the period of 21 days for filing an appellant’s notice shall run from the date of that future ruling. No such order was sought by either side in the present case. 4.On 13 May 2021 the Claimant’s solicitors wrote to the Defendants’ solicitors enclosing a draft of a proposed order. It included a reference to the Claimant seeking permission to appeal insofar as the judgment related to the validity of one of the patents in suit. 5.On 14 May 2021 the Defendants’ solicitors replied, asserting that this court no longer has jurisdiction to grant permission to appeal since no application was made to this court at the hearing at which the decision to be appealed was made, within the meaning of CPR 52.3(2)(a) and there was no application to adjourn the date of that decision. Further, the 21 day time limit for filing an appellant’s notice, imposed by CPR 52.12(2)(b), had expired on 13 May 2021; an application to vary that time limit could only be made to the Court of Appeal, pursuant to CPR 52.15(1). 6.Late in the afternoon of Friday, 14 May 2021 Mr St Quintin, counsel for the Claimant, sent an email to the court, copied to counsel for the Defendants. The court received written submissions from counsel for the Defendants, Mr Ivison, on Monday, 17 May 2021.