Intellectual Property Office

We are the Intellectual Property Office. As an Executive Agency of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) we promote innovation by providing a clear, accessible and widely understood intellectual property (IP) framework, to enable creators, users and consumers to benefit t from knowledge and ideas. A key component of this framework is the granting of intellectual property rights (IPR).

Patents

We grant patents, which protect the technical aspects and functions of products and processes.

Designs

We register designs, to protect the appearance of products.

Trade marks

We register trade marks, which protect brands and help consumers choose between different products and services.

Copyright

We develop UK law on copyright, which includes unregistered design rights and rights of performers.

Our main business is to grant patents and register designs and trade marks in the UK. We also handle applications for European Patents, Community Trade Marks (CTMs), Registered Community Designs (RCDs) and international patent and

trade mark applications for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Our aim is to raise awareness of IP so that more businesses know what they need to do to realise value from their ideas.  We also look after the UK’s interest in IPR policy and other IPR issues both nationally and internationally. Our work is governed by intellectual property laws.