Intellectual Property Office
Detail of outcome
The government sought views on a range of issues relating to the IPOs Transformation programme. The programme will modernise IPO services and processes, and remove unnecessary inconsistencies between the IP rights. The issues in the consultation related to potential changes to legislation, practice and system design.
The consultation had two parts; part A and part B. Part A related to proposed changes to the law and practice to enable digital transformation and broader questions about IPO services. This included automation, use of digital documents, hours of business, and providing represented customers with greater control over tasks they want to perform themselves. Part B focussed on proposed legal and practice changes to the IPOs tribunal function.
The government response summarises the views of respondents and sets out next steps for the various issues of the consultation informed by these consultation.
The government would like to thank everyone who responded to the consultation.
Original consultation
Consultation description
The One IPO Transformation programme is designed to modernise and improve the IPOs services. By 2025, we will have replaced our existing processes with a single, integrated system for all registered IP rights (patents, trade marks and designs). This will provide customers with more efficient digital services that transform the way they interact with us.
As well as building these new services, the government needs to make sure that we have a legal framework that can support them. The current framework assumes a system built around paper forms and correspondence. We want the law to have the flexibility to adapt to new technologies, and to be more consistent in how things work across rights.
This consultation sets out changes which the government considers may be needed to achieve those goals, and seeks views on them. These changes will remove legal barriers to the IPOs digital transformation work and address inconsistencies between the different rights.
We ask for your responses to the questions highlighted in the consultation document. The consultation is in two parts; you can respond to either or both parts.