Intellectual Property Office
October 13
07:12
2022
Details
We are currently meeting, or exceeding, several of our customer service standards. However, unprecedented demand continues to impact timescales in some areas. We are working hard to address any delays by recruiting and training additional staff and improving the efficiency of our processes.
More detail about our activities can be found in our Corporate Priorities.
| Service Standard | August 2022 performance | September 2022 performance |
| Information Centre We will answer telephone calls to the Information Centre within 60 seconds. We will respond to all written enquiries within 5 working days (measurement excludes enquiries transferred to specialist teams for a direct response). | Calls 98% in 60 secs Emails 100% in 5 days | Calls 97% in 60 secs Emails 100% in 5 days |
| Trade Mark and Designs Examination We will issue the first report on trade mark and designs domestic and international cases within 2 weeks (10 working days) from the date it is ready to be examined. An application is ready to be examined once it has been filed with us and we have issued a filing receipt. | Trade Marks: 1 week and 4 days (8 working days) International Trade Marks: 2 weeks and 1 day (10 working days) Designs: 4 weeks and 3 days (10 working days) International designs: 3 weeks and 3 days (17 working days) | Trade Marks: 1 week and 2 days (6 working days) International Trade Marks: 2 weeks and 3 days (11 working days) Designs: 3 weeks and 4 days (17 working days) International designs: 2 weeks and 2 days (10 working days) |
| Patents Preliminary Examination Assessment of procedural and non-technical aspects of a patent application. We will complete all preliminary examinations within 4 weeks (20 working days) of the applications filing date. | 93% issued within 4 weeks | 94% issued within 4 weeks |
| Patent Search We will issue search reports within 6 months from request. | 95% completed in 8 months | 95% completed in 7 months and 26 days |
| Patent Examination Full substantive examination of legal and technical aspects of a patent application. We will perform patent examinations within 3.5 years [42 months] of the priority date. | 95% completed in 43 months and 22 days | 95% completed in 43 months and 8 days |
| Patent Acceleration We will deal with all requests for accelerated processing within 2 months of receipt. | 99% within 2 months | 98% within 2 months |
| Hearing Decisions We will issue a hearings report: within 2 weeks (10 working days) of a trade mark or design ex parte hearing, and/or we will issue formal decisions in trade mark, design and patent cases (ex parte and inter partes) within 12 weeks of the hearing. If no hearing takes place the decision will be issued within 12 weeks of all submissions being filed or the deadline date. Example of differences between ex parte and inter partes hearings. | Average time to issue hearing report: 1 week (5 working days) Average time to issue decision: 8 weeks and 6 days (44 working days) | Average time to issue hearing report: 1 week and 2 days (6 working days) Average time to issue decision: 8 weeks and 5 days (42 working days) |
| Register Requests We will action requests to correct names and addresses and record registrable transactions (such as a change of owner) within 2 weeks (10 working days) of receipt. | Patents: 3 days (3 working days) Trade Marks and Designs: 1 week and 1 day (5 working days) | Patents: 3 days (2 working days) Trade Marks and Designs: 3 days (2 working days) |
| Customer Satisfaction Average overall satisfaction with the IPO of 85% Customer satisfaction is not measured on a monthly basis. The figure reflects performance in our most recent customer survey. | 87% [Q1 2022-23] | 87% [Q1 2022-23] |