Intellectual Property Office (United Kingdom)

{{Infobox organization

|name = Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO)

|image = PropertyOffice.svg

|size = 200px

|abbreviation =

|formation =

|type = Government agency

|purpose =

|region_served = United Kingdom

|membership =

|leader_title = Chief Executive

|leader_name = Adam Williams

|main_organ =

|parent_organisation = Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

|affiliations =

|num_staff =

|website = {{Official URL}}

}}

The Intellectual Property Office of the United Kingdom (often referred to as the UK IPO) is, since 2 April 2007, the operating name of The Patent Office.The change was recommended in the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, see [http://www.ipo.gov.uk/policy/policy-issues/policy-issues-gowers/policy-issues-gowers-governance.htm Governance: Recommendation 53] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011225013/http://www.ipo.gov.uk/policy/policy-issues/policy-issues-gowers/policy-issues-gowers-governance.htm |date=11 October 2008 }}, Intellectual Property Office web site. Consulted on 25 April 2008{{cite web |title=About us |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/intellectual-property-office/about |website=GOV.UK |access-date=7 September 2021 |language=en |quote=The Intellectual Property Office became the operating name of The Patent Office on 2 April 2007.}} It is the official government body responsible for intellectual property rights in the UK and is an executive agency of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).[https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/intellectual-property-office Intellectual Property Office], Intellectual Property Office web site. Consulted on 16 January 2019

Responsibilities

The IPO has direct administrative responsibility for examining and issuing or rejecting patents, and maintaining registers of intellectual property including patents, designs and trade marks in the UK. As in most countries, there is no statutory register of copyright and the IPO does not conduct any direct administration in copyright matters.

The IPO is led by the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, who is also Registrar of Trade Marks,Section 62 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 Registrar of DesignsSection 44(1) of the Registered Designs Act 1949 and Chief Executive of the IPO:

ca. 1989-1999{{snd}} Paul Hartnack {{cite news |last1=Hartnack |first1=Marion |title=Paul Hartnack obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/25/paul-hartnack-obituary |access-date=14 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=25 January 2018}}
1999–2003{{snd}}Alison Brimelow (afterwards President of the European Patent Office){{cite web |title=Alison Brimelow's CV |url=http://www.epo.org/about-us/press/backgrounders/brimelow-cv.html |website=EPO.org |publisher=European Patent Office |access-date=14 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926220424/http://www.epo.org/about-us/press/backgrounders/brimelow-cv.html |archive-date=26 September 2007 |date=2 July 2007}}{{cite news |last1=Upton |first1=Joe |title=Award for Chair of Intellectual Property Institute |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/award-for-chair-of-intellectual-property-institute |access-date=14 February 2025 |work=gov.uk |publisher=Department for Business, Innovation & Skills |date=14 September 2011}}
2004-2007{{snd}}Ron Marchant{{cite web |title=New Chief Executive for the Patent Office |url=http://www.patent.gov.uk/press/press-release/press-release-2007/press-release-20070320.htm |website=patent.gov.uk |publisher=The Patent Office |access-date=14 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929103006/http://www.patent.gov.uk/press/press-release/press-release-2007/press-release-20070320.htm |archive-date=29 September 2007 |date=20 March 2007}}{{cite report |author= |date=19 July 2004 |title=Annual Report and Accounts 2003-2004 |url=https://www.ipo.gov.uk/about-anrep0304.pdf |publisher=Patent Office |page=63}}
2007–2010{{snd}}Ian Fletcher
2010–2016{{snd}}John Alty[https://www.gov.uk/government/people/john-alty John Alty, Director General, Trade Policy]
2017–2022{{snd}}Tim Moss[https://www.gov.uk/government/people/tim-moss] Government website.
1 September 2022 – present{{snd}}Adam Williams[https://www.gov.uk/government/people/adam-williams Chief Executive and Comptroller General], Intellectual Property Office web site.

= Substantive duties =

The existence of the Patent Office and the post of Comptroller-General are required by the Patents and Design Act 1907 (though most of the remainder of this Act has been repealed), but the substantive duties of the IPO are set out in other legislation, including:

The Registered Designs Act 1949
The Patents Act 1977
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
The Trade Marks Act 1994

Each of these Acts of Parliament has been extensively amended since it was first passed.

=Manual of Patent Practice=

The Manual of Patent Practice sets out the relevant patent law and the operational practice of the Intellectual Property Office in relation to patents.Intellectual Property Office, [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/patents-manual-of-patent-practice Patents: Manual of Patent Practice], last updated (in the light of recent legal cases) on 1 July 2022, accessed 8 August 2022

History

File:The former Patent Office building, Southampton Buildings, WC2 - geograph.org.uk - 1271755.jpg

The forerunner of the Patent Office, the Office of the Commissioners for Patents, was established by the Patent Law Amendment Act 1852 and opened on 1 October that year. While this is claimed as the date the modern Intellectual Property Office was created it was in fact created later, along with the office of the comptroller under section 82 of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 57).

There had been a Patent Bill Office, under the control of the Attorney General, which was part of the old patent system. It had been located in Lincoln's Inn.

Significantly, the process of applying for a patent was extremely complicated and largely set up to ensure fees were paid to various officials (patent fees formed a significant part of the stipend of the Attorney and Solicitor General). The Patent Law Amendment Act 1852 brought the process of patent grant into a single office serving the whole of the United Kingdom (where previously a petitioner had had to apply and pay fees to several offices, and to obtain separate patents for each of the UK's constituent nations).[http://www.ipo.gov.uk/about/history/history-office.htm Official website: History of the IPO.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140803191459/http://www.ipo.gov.uk/about/history/history-office.htm |date=3 August 2014 }}

Initially, people applying for a patent often used to submit a detailed model of their submission; these were retained and the collection became known as the Patent Museum (opened to the public in 1863 in South Kensington, it went on to become a core collection of the new Science Museum there).

Location

From its early days, the Patent Office was based in the Chancery Lane area of London, where it eventually spread to fill the area between Furnival Street and Southampton Buildings. The principal entrance was at 25 Southampton Buildings, where a purpose-built headquarters was constructed in 1899–1902 (architect: Sir John Taylor). The principal interior space was the Library, a "harsh but spectacular space 140ft long, lit from skylights and a clerestory, with two tiers of steel-framed, fireproofed galleries on cast iron Corinthian columns".{{cite book|last1=Pevsner|first1=Nikolaus| author-link1=Nikolaus Pevsner| last2=Bradley|first2=Simon|title=The Buildings of England – London 1: The City of London|date=1997|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London}} Designed to allow members of the public to consult patent records, it also contained a very extensive collection of technical and scientific publications, which in 1967 was transferred to the British Library.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

In 1991, having outgrown its original premises, the Patent Office moved to Newport, South East Wales, where the IPO headquarters remains to this day. A small branch office in London has been maintained for the benefit of the large professional community based there and for communication with central government.