January 2012

We have just launched our recruitment for this year's appointment of new professional board members.  You will find the initial information here.  Please contact us on ipreg@ipreg.org.uk if you would like an information pack and application forms. 

December 2011

We have recently launched our 2nd Consultation on Litigators' Rights and the consultation papers can be found in the Consultations section of our website.  For the IPReg response document to the 1st consultation follow this link.

Alternative Business Structures

Our consultant has issued a scoping document in relation to an application by IPReg to become a licensing authority and to regulate alternative business stuctures. A copy of the full report can be found here

We are having a series of meetings with the Legal Services Board and we will be sending a summary version of the report and other materials to our registered entities shortly.

 

September 2011

If you are a litigator you will shortly receive a copy of the new Special Rules of Professional Conduct applicable to Litigation Practitioners. This is virtually identical to the old CIPA and ITMA rules.

As a result we have amended the Guidance to Rule 8 of the main Code and details of this amendment will also be provided.

A copy of this new "Litigators' Code" is also published on the website.

Separately we have added some additional guidance to Rule 6 in relation to potentially vulnerable clients.

August 2011

We attach our proposed budget for 2012. This budget will result in the practice fees for individuals being held at the 2011 rates.

The budget follows very closely the format and amount of the 2011 budget which we have included for ease of comparison.

You will also find here a comparison, as at June, between the 2011 budget and our actual costs.

One of the main areas of concern last year, in relation to our Governance Certificate, was the cost of the appointment of a fourth lay member.

In fact, the actual cost was minimal because we recruited through you. Many registrants passed on our e mail with the vacancy details and David Bream was recruited via an introduction from D Young  - thank you!

The addition to the two Boards of a lay member who has experience in instructing and working with attorneys has received recognition from the LSB and its Consumer Panel.

Michael Heap will be writing to entities separately in relation to our proposal to apply to become a licensing authority to regulate Alternative Business Structures.

We will be finalising the budget and practice fees at our September board meeting. If you have any comments on the proposed budget, please would you send them to me by e mail before 12th September.

Thank you

The CIPA Litigation Accreditation Board has just validated a course offered by Nottingham Law School for the training of patent attorney litigators.

The formal decison can be found here.

Ann Wright

 

July 2011

IPReg Consultation on Replacement of CIPA Higher Courts Qualification Regulations and the ITMA Trade Mark Litigator and Trade Mark Advocate Certificate Regulations.

Consumers of intellectual property law services have long complained that intellectual property litigation is an area in which restrictions on professional representation lead to unnecessary increased cost and complexity. The problem is particularly acute for small and medium sized enterprises, and especially so for individual inventors, authors or traders.
 

At a time when repeated government reviews have stressed the importance of intellectual property to the UK economy and the availability of cost effective court procedures to facilitate enforcement, the consumer faces, as our consultation outlines, potentially less choice in service provision than at any time since 1989.

 

The Patent Regulation Board (‘PRB’) and the Trade Mark Regulation Board (‘TRB’) acting together as the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (‘IPReg’) believe this state of affairs is not in the public or consumer interest, and further is concerned that without change to the current regulations, the 2010 reforms to the Patent County Court will be substantially frustrated.

IPReg is, therefore, proposing to issue a revised qualification regime for patent attorney and trade mark attorney litigators to facilitate the grant of relevant rights to registered patent and trade mark attorneys.

You will find a link to the consultation here.

We seek your views on our proposals. The consultation is open until 17^th October.

Please send your response to this consultation by email to ann.wright@ipreg.org.uk.

 

June 2011

This month we have given presentations about IPReg to Wynne-Jones, Lainé & James and colleagues in Cheltenham, HLLBShaw and Withers & Rogers. If you would like us to come to you please call us on 0207 632 7173.

We will be posting the LSB approved Examination Rules on the website next week.  

The IPReg Board will be considering its 2012 budget at its board meeting on 21st July. Once approved the 2012 business plan and proposed budget will be posted on the website for consultation.

CIPA and ITMA have confirmed their support to IPReg applying to become a licensing authority to regulate Alternative Business Structures. IPReg will be debating this at its July board meeting. You will find material about ABS on our LSB section.

For Information 

The Education & Qualifications Committee has agreed a simple pro rata approach to CPD hours for those returning from maternity, paternity or extended sick leave and also for those returning from a sabbatical/between jobs break. 

Notice is hereby given that the passporting rights given by Regulation 2 of the Patent Attorney and Trade Mark Attorney Registered Bodies Regulations will cease on 31st December 2010.  From that date entities who have not registered with us under Regulation 2 will need to submit a full application under Part 3 of those Regulations.