Insider: November 2022

14th Nov 2022

Help us raise the representation issue.

President’s welcome

I was delighted to attend our Autumn Conference in Birmingham recently.

It was great to see so many familiar and new faces at the Library of Birmingham to explore the innovations that will shape our profession’s future.

On the same day, I was proud to launch our campaign on representation rights before the UK IPO. If successful, the campaign will further strengthen the UK trade mark and IP system.

We are proposing that, in order to represent anyone other than yourself in front of the IPO, you must be an appropriately qualified, regulated and insured professional with knowledge of the UK system.

This change will ensure that IP rights owners can benefit from higher standards of representation and will put UK‑qualified practitioners, in particular CITMA members, on a level playing field with their counterparts overseas.

We have engaged with a number of parliamentarians and ministers on this issue and will continue to ensure that it is taken seriously.

We hope that you will play your part in supporting our campaign by getting in touch with your MP to highlight this important issue for the IP community in the UK.

Finally, I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our Christmas lunches in Leeds and London.

We have not been able to gather together as a profession for these events for two years now, and returning to this much‑loved tradition will be a great way to wrap up the year.

Rachel Wilkinson‑Duffy, CITMA President

Latest course focuses on renewals and recordals

Our Introduction to Trade Mark Renewals and Recordals course is the latest addition to our programme of support for the learning and development of early‑career professionals.

The course is geared towards formalities staff with less than six months’ experience in the field.

It is available to take online at any time, and takes around one to two hours to fully complete. In order to make it as easy as possible to fit the course in, participants will have access to the course for eight weeks after signing up.

The course is intended to make sure that new staff feel confident in the following areas:

defining what a trade mark is and what it means to renew a trade mark;
identifying the correct approach to monitoring renewal dates, deciding whether to renew a trade mark and handling late renewals;
giving a broad overview of the renewal process in the UK and in other countries; and
explaining what is meant by a recordal and an assignment.

If you would like to learn more about the course, please click here to find out more.

Ian Bartlett: new Law & Practice Chair

We are pleased to welcome Ian Bartlett from Beck Greener as Chair of our Law & Practice Committee.

The committee discusses the implications of changes to IP law and practice and responds to consultations.

It also works closely with important organisations including the EUIPO, the UK IPO and WIPO.

Mental health silence

A new report from IP Inclusive and mental‑health charity Jonathan’s Voice has found that many in the IP industry are unwilling to discuss their mental health, but see negative effects from stress.

A reported 60% of legal professionals, including Chartered Trade Mark Attorneys, felt that their work had been affected by work‑related stress during the past year.