The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has recently cleared its patents, trade marks and designs examination backlog – cases that take longer than IPO’s agreed service standards.

The backlog in all three examination areas has been cleared to zero from queues of, 13,000 patent applications, 32,185 trade mark applications and 9,507 design applications.

In order to process the backlog, the IPO has brought about a number of initiatives – streamlining of processes, service improvements and the creation of ‘technology clusters’ to share work across a wider pool of colleagues.

The IPO have created a programme called the “One IPO Transformation programme” which sees the launch of their new patents service within 2 years. The programme is designed to bring faster services for customers and enable IPO staff to manage higher volumes, reducing the risk of future backlogs.

Full report can be found here

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fee structure has changed as of 1 September 2022.

The fees are now as follows –

Transmittal Fee:

• £75

Search Fee:

• £1,518

Further charges and more information can be found here

We our celebrating 10 years as Burrows Chambers Associates.  Ten 10 years ago, Neil Chambers joined forces with Anthony Burrows (now in his 33rd year of running his own IP Firm).

Anthony and Neil are both still located at Business Centre West in Letchworth Garden City and are proud to continue serving local, national and international Clients with their Intellectual Property requirements.

We would like to thank our Clients for their continued support and loyalty, and we look forward to serving you for another 10 years and beyond!

As a way of helping celebrate, all current Clients will be added to a prize draw to win a bottle of champagne.

(information correct at time of publishing)

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has had temporary fee changes (fee reductions) in place since the 30^th July 2020 in order to help customers during the pandemic.

The temporary fee changes provision will end on the 31^st March 2021. Any actions taken on or after the 1^st April 2021 will require the usual fees.

Please follow the link to find out more directly from the IPO’s website – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/temporary-fee-changes

If you have been relying on paying your Patent renewal fees late, and incurring no additional costs through the temporary fee changes, you must now pay the required renewal fees by the end of March – otherwise normal extension fees will be incurred.

As a Firm, we are always here to help our Customers and, so, if you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

It is important to know that, as of the 1^st January 2021, those wishing to protect their Trade Mark and Registered Design Rights in the United Kingdom and the EU will need to make separate provisions, and EU Trade Marks and Registered Designs now no longer protect the United Kingdom.

If you have existing EU rights which were Registrations as of the 31^st December 2020, reciprocal rights have been created covering the UK, and the above affects just new rights or rights which were Applications as of the 31^st December 2020.

Further, as of the 1^st January 2021, proprietors outside the UK will require an Address for Service in the UK.

We are here to help you and your Clients, and welcome any queries the above may raise.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published a summary of the key changes to IP rights from the 1^st January.  Please follow this link for further information – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/intellectual-property-after-1-january-2021.