Peter Finnie, managing partner at Gill Jennings & Every, discusses why the UK’s legal system is overdue an update to cater for a world largely driven by software.
The microprocessor, the pocket calculator, the floppy disk, the very first Apple computer, and Pong. The 70s was a decade of great innovation, with technologies that would go on to shape the way we live today – but it’s safe to say that a technical breakthrough looked very different back then.
Yet, the UK’s patent legislation hasn’t been updated since 1977, which unfortunately leaves the legal system with the exact same outlook on technology as it had 40 years ago. The failure of UK patent legislation to evolve has put the legal sphere out of joint with the biggest drivers of the technology sector, and threatens to put the UK’s digital economy at risk....