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18 July 2019Rory O'Neill

UKIPO plans digital renewals update

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has pledged to transform the way it delivers IP services as the economy and wider society increasingly goes digital.

The commitments came in the IPO’s annual report, published today, July 18.

Publication of the report comes as the IPO prepares for the UK’s impending exit from the EU.

But according to the office, Brexit will not distract it from its key strategic objectives in 2019/20.

The coming year will be the first in which the IPO provides “truly modern IP services to our customers, where the channel of choice is digital,” said CEO Tim Moss.

Brexit has diverted resources from improving the IPO’s digital platform, the report said.

“The transformation of our digital services has progressed but at a slower pace as resources have been focused on ensuring our systems are prepared for exiting the EU”, it read.

“During 2019/20 we will focus on two key areas identified as most important to our customers, providing a single unified digital service for renewals and a system to enable customers to change their details,” the IPO pledged.

The report said that the IPO had processed record levels of trademark and design mark applications over the past year.

Trademark applications rose by 11%, while design applications increased by 15% over the period, the report said.

The record levels of filing activity came as the IPO has had to draw up preparations for managing the IP aspects of Brexit.

Non-executive director of the IPO, Tim Suter, said that he had been “impressed with the organisation’s ability to respond to the uncertainty, and plan for a range of scenarios so that we will be able to deliver the best possible outcomes on IP, whatever the final settlement turns out to be”.

The IPO has produced multiple pieces of secondary legislation and updated its IT systems in order to be able to process new and updated IP rights resulting from Brexit, the IPO said.

In the report, the office also hailed its progress in reaching businesses and educating them about the value of IP.

According to the document, the IPO engaged with more than 90,000 businesses, 80% of which “felt able to make an informed decision about their IP”.

Moss said that the year was a successful one for the office.

“It not only met its ministerial targets, but also put in a strong performance right across the organisation, from processing record trademark and design applications and engaging with large numbers of businesses, to achieving 87.5% customer satisfaction,” Moss said.

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30 January 2020   There will be no changes to the UK Intellectual Property Office or for its customers when the UK departs from the EU at midnight tomorrow, the organisation said in updated guidance for the transition period to December 31, 2020.