IPO officially launches digital IP renewal service
A new digital renewals service that slashes bulk renewal time for IP rights from 5 days to 5 minutes has now been opened up to all customers by IPO.
A new digital renewals service that slashes bulk renewal time for IP rights from 5 days to 5 minutes has now been opened up to all customers by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
Following a successful trial period which has seen the new service score a 96% satisfaction rating from customers.
The service is the first example of the Intellectual Property Office’s ‘One IPO’ service’, providing a single, integrated renewal service across all registered IP rights.
For the first time, customers who need to renew a registered design can do so online. Customers can also renew up to 1,500 IP rights, - including combinations of patents, trade marks and designs - in a single digital transaction.
The new service has already handled around £138 million worth of transactions during an initial trial period between April and December last year. This trial period saw around 550,000 individual IP rights renewed using the new platform.
Going fully digital makes the bulk renewals process more streamlined, providing instant validation of renewal applications and eliminating errors resulting from a manual process. Customers also benefit from automated electronic delivery of correspondence and receipts, certificates, and can complete transactions at the time and place that suits them.
Customer feedback from the IPO’s trial period was been overwhelmingly positive, scoring a 96% satisfaction rating from customers in June 2021.
Customers said they particularly valued how simple and intuitive the new service is to use, giving feedback like:
I really loved being able to make multiple renewals on one form, so quick and easy!!;
This is so much better than entering each one separately. It’s much easier. Thank you
and:
You’ve got the very best service of all countries in the world keep up the good work!
The testing period saw the team work through a number of challenges to bring the service online. The IPO pulled together a dedicated team and were able to resolve any issues as quickly as possible. The IPO say that a major lesson learned is about the value of testing new services with a representative group of users reflecting different needs. This helps iron out any issues early on, and ensures that the focus remains on the customer throughout.
Peter Slater, Deputy Director of IPO’s Technical Change team said:
Our new renewals service has proved that we are more than capable of delivering on our promises of radically improved digital services and we’ll continue this journey with the needs of our customers at the core.
The journey toward introducing a new service isn’t always going to be seamless, particularly at the very earliest stages. Therefore, the value of testing new services with a range of customers with different needs could not be clearer. This approach has helped us design a system that met the needs of all our customers, whether they file one renewal or 1,000.
The service has had an overwhelmingly positive reception, but there’s always room for improvement, so we will continue to review and improve the service going forward.
The IPO say that they will bring forward these design principles to their One IPO Transformation Programme, which will provide a single, integrated system for all registered IP rights.
David Holdsworth – Deputy CEO and Director of Operational Delivery at IPO said:
At the IPO our ambition is to be the best IP office in the world, and our One IPO Transformation programme is central to this. Over the next five years, we want to completely transform what we do to deliver better services for our customers and increase the value we contribute to the UK economy.
Our digital Renewals service gives a taster of what you can expect in future. A single, integrated system where you can complete all of your renewals in one place, whether it’s a patent, trade mark or design. In future, all IPO services will work this way – One IPO service for all of your IP needs in one place
For updates about the IPO’s transformation programme, you can get in touch with the IPO by emailing transformation@ipo.gov.uk.
Notes to editors
- the team working on the project won bronze award in the Transformation category’ at the Civil Service Operational Delivery Profession Awards
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