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Presumably in a loser-pays system you would be required to post a bond to sue if there was some question of your ability/willingness to pay.

Besides, the ability to offload your legal exposure (as opposed to the risk for ordinary debts, where the creditors should have known what they were dealing with) onto shell companies is exaggerated.

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> Presumably in a loser-pays system you would be required to post a bond to sue if there was some question of your ability/willingness to pay.

Ah, so would the policy will be that those too poor to post a bond would not be allowed access to the courts?

They already don't have access, they have to pay their half of the costs. We're talking about patent lawsuits here anyway, both parties are corporations so "poor" isn't really a meaningful concept.

Cash flow can be a problem in small to mid-size companies.

Not in the UK, you may have to declare yourself bankrupt or sell your house or whatever, but nothing required up front.

On the flip side, if you can't afford your defence the you can claim legal aid: https://www.gov.uk/legal-aid/overview

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