IPO customer service standards
The IPO customer service standards tell you the level of service you can expect and how we are performing against these targets.
Documents
Details
We have reviewed our service standards for 2024-25 to ensure that they continue to meet customer needs and are reported in a more standardised way.
We know how important our quality of service is to our customers. So over the last year we have been developing a measure to assess the quality of our work. We will assess quality across the examination process in Trade Marks and Designs and searches, examinations and amendments in Patents. We are now in a position to be able to publish our quality performance and will do so on a quarterly basis from July 2024.
We are currently meeting, or exceeding, many of our customer service standards. However, unprecedented demand continues to impact timescales in some areas. We are working hard to address any delays by recruiting and training additional staff and improving the efficiency of our processes.
More detail about our activities can be found in our Corporate Priorities.
| Service Standard | October 2024 performance |
November 2024 performance |
|
Customer Support Centre We will answer telephone calls to the Customer Support Centre within 60 seconds. We will respond to all written enquiries within 5 working days (measurement excludes enquiries transferred to specialist teams for a direct response). |
Calls 96% in 60 secs Emails 99% in 5 days |
Calls 98% in 60 secs Emails 100% in 5 days |
|
Trade Mark and Designs Examination We will issue the first report on trade mark and designs domestic and international cases within 10 working days from the date it is ready to be examined. An application is ready to be examined once it has been filed with us and we have issued a filing receipt. |
Trade Marks: 90% completed in 8 working days International Trade Marks: 90% completed in 9 working days Designs: 90% completed in 6 working days International designs: 90% completed in 4 working days |
Trade Marks: 90% completed in 8 working days International Trade Marks: 90% completed in 10 working days Designs: 90% completed in 9 working days International designs: 90% completed in 6 working days |
|
Patents “Preliminary” Examination Assessment of procedural and non-technical aspects of a patent application. We will complete all preliminary examinations 20 working days of the application’s filing date. |
90% completed in 20 working days | 90% completed in 20 working days |
|
Patent Search We will issue all search reports within 6 months from request. |
90% completed in 7 months and 11 days | 90% completed in 7 months and 21 days |
|
Patent Examination Full substantive examination of legal and technical aspects of a patent application. We will perform patent examinations within 42 months of the priority date. |
90% completed in 51 months and 24 days | 90% completed in 51 months and 12 days |
|
Patent Acceleration We will deal with all requests for accelerated processing within 2 months of receipt. |
90% within 2 months | 90% within 2 months |
|
Trade mark and Designs Ex-parte hearing decisions We will issue a hearings report within 10 working days of a trade mark or design ex parte hearing. Example of differences between ex parte and inter partes hearings. |
90% of hearing reports issued in 10 working days | 90% of hearing reports issued in 10 working days |
|
Inter-Partes Hearing Decisions We will issue formal decisions in trade mark, design and patent cases within 3 months of the hearing. If no hearing takes place the decision will be issued within 3 months of all submissions being filed or the deadline date. See wording below table |
90% of decisions issued in 9 months and 22 days | 90% of decisions issued in 9 months and 28 days |
|
Register Requests We will action requests to correct names and addresses and record registrable transactions (such as a change of owner) 10 working days of receipt. |
Patents: 2 working days Trade Marks and Designs: 90% completed in 6 working days |
Patents: 3 working days Trade Marks and Designs: 90% completed in 6 working days |
Quality performance
| Quarter 1 2024 |
Quarter 2 2024 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Patent searches, examinations and amendments | 98% | 91% |
| Trade mark examinations | 95% | 93% |
| Design examinations | 100% | 99% |
The IPO Tribunals are currently managing a significant backlog of cases. This followed unprecedented levels of demand which arose for specific reasons throughout 2022 and 2023. We acknowledge the resulting delays and thank users for their patience. We are working hard to eliminate the backlog and return to performance in line with the customer service standard over the next 18-24 months.
Updates to this page
Published 9 July 2014Last updated 20 December 2024 + show all updates
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Performance data for November 2024 added.
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Customer service performance for October 2024 added.
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Customer service performance for September 2024 added.
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Performance data for August 2024 added.
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Performance data for July 2024 added.
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Quality performance added.
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Customer service data for June 2024 added.
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Performance data for May 2024 added.
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Customer Service Performance for April 2024 added.
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March 2024 performance review added.
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February 2024 performance review added.
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January 2024 performance review added.
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December 2023 performance review added.
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November 2023 performance review added.
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Updated customer service standards for September and October 2023.
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Customer performance for September 2023 added.
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August 2023 performance rating added.
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Performance for July 2023 added.
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June 2023 performance added.
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April and May 2023 performance review added.
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March 2023 performance added.
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January and February 2023 performance review added.
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Update to December call performance.
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November and December 2022 performance review added.
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October 2022 performance review added.
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September 2022 performance rating added.
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August 2022 performance rating added.
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Performance for July 2022 added.
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Performance for June 2022 added.
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May 2022 performance added.
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Performance for April 2022 added.
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March 2022 performance added.
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February 2022 performance added.
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January 2022 performance added.
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December 2021 performance added.
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November 2021 performance added.
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October 2021 performance added.
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September 2021 performance added.
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August 2021 performance added.
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Figures for July 2021 added.
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Figures for June 2021 added.
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Figures for January 2019 to March 2020 updated.
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Performance against Customer Service Standards October to December 2019 added.
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Performance against Customer Service Standards July to September 2019 added
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Performance against Customer Service Standards April to June 2019 added.
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Figures for Jan 2019 to March 2019 updated.
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Figures for October to December 2018 added.
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Figures for July to September 2018 added.
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Performance against Customer Service Standards April to June 2018 added.
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Performance against Customer Service Standards April 2017 – March 2018 updated.
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Figures for December 2017 to February 2018 added.
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Figures for April 2017 to March 2018 updated.
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Figures for April to October 2017 added.
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Figures for November and December 2016 added.
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Figures for October added.
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Figures for September 2016 performance against standard added.
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Figures for July and August 2016 added.
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Figures for June 2016 added.
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Figures for April and May 2016 added.
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2015 to 2016 PDF updated with March 2016 figures.
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Figures for February 2016 added.
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Figures for January 2016 added.
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Figures for November and December added
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Figures for October added.
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Figures for September 2015 added.
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Figures for July 2015 added.
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Figures for June 2015 added.
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Figures for May 2015 added.
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Figures for April 2015 have been added.
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March 2015 service standard data added.
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The published note of 10 April 2015 reads 'Figures for January 2015 have been added' this should of read 'Figures for February 2015 added'.
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Figures for January 2015 have been added.
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Figures for January 2015 have been added.
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Figures for December 2014 have been added.
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Figures for Nov 2014 have now been published.
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October 2014 Performance against Customer Service Standards figures have been published.
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2014 to 2015 performance added.
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First published.