Further to our newsflash of 15/11/12, we can now report that the UK government has approved the expected introduction of the small claims track at the Patents County Court. The Patents County Court, which is able to hear cases on patents, trade marks, copyright and designs, has over the past couple of years been restructured to enable more companies to bring IP litigation cases by providing a suitable forum for smaller cases. In particular, cases are expected to managed so as to take no more than about three days at trial, and costs are limited to £50,000, and damages to £500,000. The latest development has confirmed that a new small claims track will be available as of October 1st, 2012. It is applicable to cases where the value of the claim is no more than £5,000, and applies to copyright, trade mark and unregistered design right cases, but not to patent or registered design right cases. This offers a suitable mechanism for SMEs to enforce proportionally low-value IP claims.