The National Archives have a new shiny website for UK Legislation:
The site is actually pretty good and a great improvement over the old HMSO offering (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office if you are wondering – the Queens personal stationery cupboard) . The design is simple enough even attorneys can use it.
For example, typing “patent” as a search term brings me a list all patent related acts and statutory instruments. These can be ordered by date or title. You can even view an Act from 1571. (Trade Mark professional can type “trade mark” for similar fun; if you get bored of IP (or need to sleep) you can also look up the A27 Trunk Road (Shoreham Bypass) Traffic Restriction Order 2010.)
Once you select an item you can choose to view the original legislation (as enacted) or the latest available (as revised). You can also collapse certain sections, print to PDF or HTML, and view a plain text version. When viewing the latest version, amendments are clearly identified and a hyperlink to the implementing legislation is provided.
To be honest, I find it easier to use than the Legislation section of Westlaw. And, unlike Westlaw, it’s free (well, paid for by UK tax payers).
IP Chimp 