New name for UK Patent Office welcomed by ITMA

ITMA, the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, applauds the Gower Review proposal to change the name of the UK Patent Office to the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO).

Philip Harris, President of ITMA, said:

“We have been encouraging greater clarity from the Government for many years in respect of Intellectual Property (IP) and have cited the name of the Patent Office as an inhibiting factor in helping the public to understand that IP covers not just patents, but also trade marks, designs and copyright.”

“Today’s announcement is therefore most welcome and supports the comments we originally made in evidence to the Gower Review that more needs to be done to improve awareness of IP in the UK. An extract from our original evidence is at Note 4 below.”

“As the pre-eminent professional body for trade mark attorneys in the UK we are actively working with Government to increase awareness of IP. To this end we are in the second year of a joint campaign with the Patent Office and the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys involving regional seminars and free consultations on IP. The proposed change of name to the UKIPO can only facilitate this and we hope it will be speedily
implemented.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (ITMA) was established in 1934 as the professional body representing those persons qualified to act for the owners of trade mark and allied intellectual property rights (in particular, registered designs) both nationally and internationally. It now represents the vast majority of UK registered trade mark agents and all UK Trade Mark & Design Litigators.

2. Currently ITMA has approximately 500 practising members; it also extends associate membership to professionals in related fields of law and overseas membership to foreign trade mark attorneys. Its total membership (all classes) is about 1600 members, primarily located in the United Kingdom and Europe, but also in more than 50 other countries.

3. ITMA is regularly consulted by UK government and by international bodies when questions affecting trade mark and allied intellectual property rights arise. It has regular meetings with the UK Patent Office, the Community Trade Marks Office (OHIM), the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and other sister organisations in Europe and beyond. For more information visit www.itma.org.uk.

4. In the evidence to the Gower Review ITMA said: “It is not believed that the subject of IP and its relevance and benefit to business is well publicised in the UK. It is particularly noted that media coverage of IP frequently contains errors, such as references to "registering the copyright in a name" or "patenting the name as a Trade Mark" or "copyrighting a patent" and we believe this increases the public confusion surrounding IP. This could be dealt with by raising IP awareness generally.”

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