"The English rule provides that the party who loses in court pays the other party's attorney's fees.

Nearly every Western democracy, other than the United States, follows the English rule."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_rule

There was an interesting bill introduced into the House recently, the SHIELD, or "Saving High-tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes" act, which offsets the cost of a patent law dispute to the loser.

The issue of legal costs is not only relevant with federal criminal lawsuits, but also with smaller companies and "patent trolls". Taking this into consideration, the SHIELD act seems like a mere Band-Aid.

That's civil court. How much does the crown pay for criminal defense?

I dont know about england, but where I come from (denmark) if you win a criminal case you dont have to pay anything.

If you loose you have to pay for your own lawyers and any technical inquiries. You never have to pay for the prosecutions lawyers.