Manual of Patent Practice
The Manual of Patent Practice explains our practice under the Patents Act 1977.
The Manual recites sections of the Patents Act 1977 and sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 relating to patents. Each provision includes commentary with related legislation in the margin. Further parts of the Manual show official notices and directions from the Patents and Designs Journal. There is also a section on Supplementary Protection Certificates for Medicinal Products and Plant Protection Products.
We update the
Manual regularly to reflect recent developments such as changes in the law and judicial decisions. The most recent update occurred on 1 October 2011, when substantive changes were made to Sections 1,
2, 3, 5, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20A, 60, 68, 73, 76, 89A, 89B, 118, 118A, 123, 125A, 130, the SPC and Notices
sections, the Table of Cases and the Index. Details of the main changes 
(23Kb) are available. Any new text in the October 2011 version is highlighted in red. A sidebar marks any paragraphs which have changed since January 2011; all previous sidebars have been
removed. The footer of each page includes an indication of the date of the latest update to that section of the
Manual.
Please note that statements made in the Manual are not in themselves an authority for any action by the Intellectual Property Office and should not be used as a set of legal requirements. If you wish to point out an error in the Manual, you can contact the editor by e-mailing mppeditor@ipo.gov.uk.