Statutory guidance

Guidance and notes on the changes to patents, trade marks, and designs forms to ensure GDPR compliance and enable more efficient processing 

Published 26 April 2023

(a) these notes are not part of the Directions. They are intended to provide background and additional information.

(b) the Interpretation Act 1978 applies to these Directions. Therefore, all the definitions set out in the Registered Designs Act 1949 (as amended), Patents Act 1977 (as amended) and the Trade Marks Act 1994 (as amended) apply to these Directions. Further, amongst other things, generally any words importing the masculine gender include the feminine and words in the singular include the plural and words in the plural include the singular.

(c) Section 31A of the Registered Design Act, Section 123(2A) of the Patents Act and Section 66 of the Trade Marks Act allows the comptroller to give directions specifying any forms the use of which is required by the Designs Rules, the Patents Rules and the Trade Mark Rules.

(d) all of the UK Design Forms, UK Patents Forms and UK Trade Mark Forms (and information about associated fees) are available from our website.

(e) the following design forms, patents forms, and trade mark forms have been revised as set out below.

Designs Form DF1A, Designs Form DC1, Designs Form DF2A, Designs Form DF2B, Designs Form DF2C, Designs Form DF5, Designs Form DF9A, Designs Form DF12A, Designs Form DF16A, Designs Form DF19A, Designs Form DF19B, Designs Form DF19C, Designs Form DF21, Designs Form DF23, Designs Form DF29, Designs Form DF55, Design Form DRF55, Design Form DRF1, Design Form DRF2, Design Form DRF3, Design Form DRF4.

Patents Form 1 PF1, Patents Form 2 PF2, Patents Form 3 PF3, Patents Form 4 PF4, Patents Form 7 PF7, Patents Form 8 PF8, Patents Form 8A PF8A, Patents Form 9A PF9A, Patents Form 10 PF10, Patents Form 12 PF12, Patents Form 14 PF14, Patents Form 15 PF15, Patents Form 16 PF16, Patents Form 17 PF17, Patents Form 20 PF20, Patents Form 21 PF21, Patents Form 23 PF23, Patents Form 28 PF28, Patents Form 30 PF30, Patents Form 34 PF34, Patents Form 49 PF49, Patents Form 51 PF51, Patents Form 52 PF52, Patent Form 54 PF54, Patents Form SP1, Patents Form SP2, Patents Form SP3, Patents Form SP4, Patents Form SP5, Patents Form SP6.

Trade Marks Form MM2, Trade Marks Form TM3, Trade Marks Form TM3A, Trade Marks Form TM4, Trade Marks Form TM5, Trade Marks Form TM7, Trade Marks Form TM7F, Trade Marks Form TM7G, Trade Marks Form TM8, Trade Marks Form TM8N, Trade Marks Form TM9, Trade Marks Form TM9C, Trade Marks Form TM9E, Trade Marks Form TM9R, Trade Marks Form TM9T, Trade Marks Form TM11, Trade Marks Form TM12, Trade Marks Form TM12R, Trade Marks Form TM13, Trade Marks Form TM16, Trade Marks Form TM16P, Trade Marks Form TM17, Trade Marks Form TM21A, Trade Marks Form TM21B, Trade Marks Form TM22, Trade Marks Form TM23, Trade Marks Form TM24, Trade Marks Form TM24C, Trade Marks Form TM26I, Trade Marks Form TM26N, Trade Marks Form TM26O, Trade Marks Form TM26R, Trade Marks Form TM27, Trade Marks Form TM28, Trade Marks Form TM29, Trade Marks Form TM31C, Trade Marks Form TM31M, Trade Marks Form TM31R, Trade Marks Form TM33, Trade Marks Form TM33P, Trade Marks Form TM35, Trade Marks Form TM36, Trade Marks FormTM50, Trade Marks Form TM51, Trade Marks Form TM53, Trade Marks Form TM55, Trade Marks Form TM55P.

(f) the fee and payment page present in fee bearing forms is no longer part of the form and is now separate to the form. For customer convenience the fee and payment page will remain attached to the form.

(g) customers must continue to complete the fee and payment page and provide a separate payment for each form they file. They must also indicate the fee amount being paid and provide contact details on the fee and payment page. Fee bearing forms will not be processed if payment details are not provided.

(h) the checklist, sending instructions and post-filing office actions information present on all forms are no longer part of the form. For customer convenience these will remain attached to the form.

Design Forms: DF1A, DC1, DF2A, DF2B, DF2C, DF5, DF9A, DF12A, DF16A, DF19A, DF19B, DF19C, DF21, DF23, DF29, DF55, DRF55, DRF1, DRF2, DRF3, DRF4.

(I) these forms have been revised to include supporting text “This can be typed or handwritten” under the ‘Signature’ heading.

Design Forms: DF1A, DF2C

(j) Design Form 1A has been revised to include the text “(List on a separate sheet if there is not enough space on this form – there is not a limit)” and to number the “Number of sheets attached to this form” section as section 9

(k) Design Form 2C has been revised to include the text “You need to make payment on the following page” following the ‘Notes’ section

Patent Forms: PF1, PF2, PF3, PF4, PF7, PF8, PF8A, PF9A, PF10, PF12, PF14, PF15, PF16, PF17, PF20, PF21, PF23, PF28, PF30, PF34, PF49, PF51, PF52, PF54, SP1, SP2, SP3, SP4, SP5, SP6.

(l) these forms have been revised to include supporting text “This can be typed or handwritten” under the ‘Signature’ heading

Patent Forms: PF20

(m) Patent Form 20 has been revised to move a tick box in Section 3 ‘I confirm that the corrected or new name in this section does not reflect a change of ownership of the patent’ to Section 6.

Trade Mark Forms: TM3, TM3A, TM4, TM5, TM7, TM7F, TM7G, TM8, TM8N, TM9, TM9C, TM9E, TM9R, TM9T, TM11, TM12, TM12R, TM13, TM16, TM16P, TM17, TM21A, TM21B, TM22, TM23, TM24, TM24C, TM26I, TM26N, TM26O, TM26R, TM27, TM28, TM29, TM31C, TM31M, TM31R, TM33, TM33P, TM35, TM36, TM50, TM51, TM53, TM55, TM55P

(n) these forms have been revised to include supporting text “This can be typed or handwritten” under the ‘Signature’ heading.

Trade Mark Forms: TM7, TM7F, TM9, TM9R, TM16, TM21A, TM21B, TM26I, TM26R, TM31C, TM31M, TM31R, TM50

(o) Trade Mark Form 7 has been revised to include numbers Q1-Q4 to Section A and subsequent numbering updated. Supporting instructions have been added to help the user complete the form.

(p) Trade Mark Form 7F has been revised to include numbers Q1-Q4 to the ‘About The Earlier Trade Mark’ section and subsequent numbering updated. Supporting instructions have been added to help the user complete the form.

(q) Trade Mark Form 9 has been revised to update the title from “Request for an extension of time before the period has expired” to ‘Extension of time to respond to any deadlines set by tribunals before the deadline has expired’ with explanatory text.

(r) Trade Mark Form 9R has been revised to update the title from “Request for a retrospective extension of time” to ‘Request to extend a time period set by examination or tribunals if you have missed the deadline’.

(s) Trade Mark Form 16 has been revised to number the ‘Contact details’ section as section 12.

(t) Trade Mark Form 21A has been revised to update the title from “Change of owner’s name, address or email” to ‘Update to current applicant or owner’s details (name, address or email only)’.

(u) Trade Mark Form 21B has been revised to update the title from “Change of details to an application” to ‘Limit or remove goods or services (trade mark not yet registered)’. An additional heading ‘Continuation Sheet’ has been added to page 3. The signature section has been numbered as section 5 and section 8 has been renumbered as section 6.

(v) Trade Mark Form 21R has been revised to remove the ‘other’ option from section 4. An additional heading has been added to section 4 “Historical details/event history” with supportive text “If available, do you want the historical details / event history of the trade mark”. Supporting text has been added to section 1 ‘Only one trade mark number starting with ‘UK’’.

(w) Trade Mark Form 26I has been revised to number the questions in Section A and B and update subsequent numbering. Supporting instructions have been added to help the user complete the form.

(x) Trade Mark Form 26R has been revised to update the title from “Application to rectify the register” to ‘Application to rectify the register (registered trade marks only)’.

(y) Trade Mark Form 27 has been revised to update the title to ‘Application to intervene in proceedings for the (a) opposition of a UK application or international trade mark (UK), or (b) invalidation, revocation or rectification of a UK registration, or (c) invalidation or revocation of a protected international trade mark (UK)’, and the headings in Section 2 and 3 to ‘Opposition/Cancellation number’ and ‘Full name of the trade mark applicant/ owner/holder’ respectively.

(z) Trade Mark forms TM31C, TM31M have been updated to replace the text at the top of the form “visit www.ipo.gov.uk and register for the trade mark ‘eAlerts’ service” with “visit www.gov.uk/track-a-trade-mark) and [register for the track a trade](http://www.gov.uk/track-a-trade-mark mark service.” In section 2 a heading ‘Name of owner’ with supporting text ‘The trade mark owner(s) name’ has been added. An additional option in section 3 has been added for ‘The trademark’s status has been updated due to a regression or progression’.

(aa) Trade Mark form TM31R has been revised to replace the text in Section 3 from ‘Address’ to ‘Address & company name (if applicable)’ and replace the associated supporting text with ‘The certified copy will be sent to this address’. Supporting text ‘Only one trade mark number starting with ‘UK’ has been added to Section 1.

(bb) Trade Mark Form 50 has been revised to include “This must be in the UK” supporting text in Section 7.

(cc) Any queries about these Directions should be addressed to:

Registered Rights Legal and Practice
Intellectual Property Office
Concept House
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8QQ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1633 811433