For the first time in recent years, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) cleared its examination backlogs in May. Cases that take longer than the IPO’s service requirements are referred to as backlogs.
It comes after two of the busiest years in IPO’s history, when the agency received a record number of applications and adjustment requests.
The clearing of backlogs has resulted in IPO’s clients receiving faster service. Customer satisfaction with the IPO’s speed of service for patent examination has nearly doubled in the last three years, going from 42% in 2019 to 75% in 2022.
In March 2022, IPO received an overall customer satisfaction score of 88 percent, which is among the greatest in the UK across any industry. It also exceeds the 85 percent target set by the Minister.
Tim Moss, the CEO of IPO, stated:
With the hurdles we faced in Brexit and Covid-19, clearing our backlogs has been a significant collective effort. To assist us perform examinations more swiftly, our employees have worked extremely hard and improved systems. Now that the backlogs have been cleared, we can fully focus on our transformation goals.
The backlog of patent examinations
Over the last two decades, the backlog of patent examinations has progressively increased. Patent backlogs are those that have been unresolved for more than 42 months after filing.
The number of late patent examinations has decreased from 13,000 to zero in the last three years. The scope of the project is unique in IPO’s history. Last April, there were 6,007 patent cases on the backlog, totaling 12,000,000 pages.
The backlog of trademarks and designs
There was also a considerable backlog of trade mark and design applications in 2020 and 2021, owing to three key factors:
1. The quantity of trademark applications has increased significantly. Over the last five years, the number of domestic trade mark applications has more than doubled, from roughly 65,000 to more than 150,000 last year.
2. Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, clients must now file with the UKIPO in order to receive UK protection; previously, consumers could submit with the EUIPO and receive UK protection.
3. The covid-19 epidemic prompted the establishment of new enterprises or the diversification of existing ones.
At its height in March 2021, the trade mark backlog was 32,185 applications, with the examination procedure taking 35 days. Now that the trade mark backlog has been cleared, the IPO is on track to meet its 10-day deadline for processing trade mark applications.
In addition, the IPO had a backlog of 9,507 design applications, with each case taking 32 days to process. This has also been resolved.
Changes to the IP address book
The massive rise in the IPO’s workload included modifications to the IP register, such as address changes. In 2021, the IPO received 80,000 more trade mark and design change petitions than it would in a typical year. This is a 335 percent increase in change request forms compared to the previous year, resulting in a 33-day turnaround time for changes. The backlog has been eliminated.
How did the IPO help to clear the backlog?
The IPO put in a big collective effort to clear the backlogs, especially given the significant obstacles it encountered with Brexit and Covid-19. Their teams improved systems so that examinations could be completed faster.
To help eliminate the patent backlog, a variety of service enhancements were made:
1. Patent exams have been streamlined to focus on the most essential and relevant issues first, while taking legal obligations and client concerns into account. This not only expedited the IPO, but it also benefits customers by providing more concise and unambiguous counsel on the subjects that matter most to them.
2. ‘Technology clusters’ were established so that work on various topics (such as measuring devices or autos) could be shared across a larger group of people. This allows IPO to concentrate its resources on the places where demand is highest at any particular time.
3. The IPO modified how applications were handled so that non-specialist workers may assist examiners with early application processing.
Given the recent spike in trade mark and design applications, the IPO required to hire a lot of examiners to keep up with the demand for their services.
The team, on the other hand, has:
1. Invested in better forecasting across trade marks and designs, allowing IPO to better manage resources and become more flexible in order to meet demand.
2. Performed a root-and-branch examination of our procedures, increasing productivity by reorganizing our workflow, implementing new training methods, and continuing to tweak IPO’s systems.
What comes next?
Clearing our backlogs is a terrific way to get ready for IPO’s next stages as a company. The new patents service is anticipated to launch in within two years, as part of the One IPO Transformation Programme. It will be easier to transition customers to our new digital offerings if we start from scratch.
Better, speedier services for both IPO’s customers and employees will allow them to manage enormous volumes of work more quickly and easily, reducing the likelihood of future backlogs.
So, now that the backlogs have been cleared, the future looks promising.