David Parsons v Convatec Limited

David Parsons v Convatec Limited

The strike out application was refused because there was no material benefit to be gained, the legal issue of aggregation is nuanced and should be determined at trial, and the discretion under CPR 3.4(2)(a) was exercised to allow both parties to argue their full cases. The split trial proposal was rejected because there was no clean split of issues, significant overlap and cannibalisation in product revenues, and the risks of increased costs, delay, and complexity outweighed any potential advantages.

Parties
Claimant: David Parsons; Defendant: Convatec Limited
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
23 January 2026
Procedural Posture
Compensation Claim Under Patents Act / Case Management Conference (ccmc), Ruling on Strike Out and Split Trial Applications
Outcome
Strike out application refused; split trial proposal rejected; single trial to proceed.
Legal Topics
Employee Compensation for Patented Inventions, Case Management, Strike Out Applications, Split Trials
Intellectual Property Patents Employee Compensation for Patented Inventions Case Management Strike Out Applications Split Trials

Case Brief

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Parties

David Parsons

Claimant

Convatec Limited

Defendant

Procedural Posture

Compensation Claim Under Patents Act / Case Management Conference (ccmc), Ruling on Strike Out and Split Trial Applications

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether parts of Convatec's Amended Defence should be struck out for providing no reasonable ground for defending the claim
  2. 2 Whether the trial should be split into two (Group 1 patents first, Groups 2 and 3 later) or proceed as a single trial

Ratio Decidendi

The strike out application was refused because there was no material benefit to be gained, the legal issue of aggregation is nuanced and should be determined at trial, and the discretion under CPR 3.4(2)(a) was exercised to allow both parties to argue their full cases. The split trial proposal was rejected because there was no clean split of issues, significant overlap and cannibalisation in product revenues, and the risks of increased costs, delay, and complexity outweighed any potential advantages.

Court Disposition

Strike out application refused; split trial proposal rejected; single trial to proceed.

Orders

  • Strike out application by Dr Parsons is refused.
  • Convatec's application for split trial is rejected; the case will proceed as a single trial.