Terms of reference of the Governance Committee of the IP Federation, adopted by resolution passed at a meeting of council on 19 October 2012 and revised at a meeting of council on 14 November 2014  

The general theme of these submissions is that the patent system is important to the development of technology in a modern industrial State; that it is part of and interlocks with an international system and that unilateral abandonment is unthinkable. The three principal complaints of industry are of uncertainty, delay and high cost. The uncertainty complaint is beamed mainly towards the difficulty of ascertaining at a given point of time what the patent situation is in regard to a particular industrial operation. The delays of which industry principally complains are in reaching a speedy and authentic answer on questions of validity and infringement - the complaint of high cost is particularly directed at High Court actions.