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IPO customer service standards

News Intellectual property English Reports
Date: 17th Oct, 2023 Source: Intellectual Property Office Country: United Kingdom Original Source

Brief

Gist Summary:

The document provided by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) outlines the customer service standards and the performance against these targets. The report details the IPO's performance in meeting its service standards for various aspects of customer service, including information centre, designs examination, patents, patent search, patent examination, patent acceleration, hearing decisions, and register requests. The performance is presented in the form of percentage completion rates and average times for completing tasks.

Summary:

The IPO's customer service standards outline the level of service customers can expect, and the organization's performance against these targets is tracked. The report provides an overview of the IPO's service standards and the percentage completion rates for each standard. The standards are grouped into categories, including information centre, designs examination, patents, and register requests.

The report highlights that the IPO is meeting or exceeding many of its customer service standards, with an overall satisfaction rate of 85%. However, the organization is working to address delays in some areas by recruiting and training additional staff and improving processes.

The document also provides an update on the IPO's performance for each quarter, with the most recent being September 2023.

Transparency data

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.

From:
Intellectual Property Office
Published
9 July 2014
Last updated
17 October 2023 — See all updates

Documents

Intellectual Property Office corporate priorities 2023 to 2024

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/intellectual-property-office-corporate-priorities-2023-to-2024/intellectual-property-office-corporate-priorities-2023-to-2024

Details

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 August 2023
performance		 September 2023
performance
Information Centre
We will answer telephone calls to the Information 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
98% in 60 secs

Emails
100% in 5 days

 Calls
97% in 60 secs

Emails
99% in 5 days
Trade Mark and Designs Examination
We will issue the first report on trade mark and designs domestic and international cases within 2 weeks (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 11 working days

International Trade Marks:
90% completed in 10 working days

Designs:
90% completed in 9 working days

International designs:
90% completed in 9 working days

 Trade Marks:
90% completed in 10 working days

International Trade Marks:
90% completed in 9 working days

Designs:
90% completed in 8 working days

International designs:
90% completed in 8 working days
Patents “Preliminary” Examination
Assessment of procedural and non-technical aspects of a patent application. We will complete all preliminary examinations within 4 weeks (20 working days) of the application’s filing date.		 98% issued within 4 weeks 98% issued within 4 weeks
Patent Search
We will issue search reports within 6 months from request.		 90% completed in 6 months and 2 days 90% completed in 6 months and 5 days
Patent Examination
Full substantive examination of legal and technical aspects of a patent application.
We will perform patent examinations within 3.5 years [42 months] of the priority date.		 90% completed in 46 months and 2 days 90% completed in 45 months and 10 days
Patent Acceleration
We will deal with all requests for accelerated processing within 2 months of receipt.		 97% within 2 months 90% within 2 months
Hearing Decisions
We will issue a hearings report: within 2 weeks (10 working days) of a trade mark or design ex parte hearing, and/or we will issue formal decisions in trade mark, design and patent cases (ex parte and inter partes) within 12 weeks of the hearing. If no hearing takes place the decision will be issued within 12 weeks of all submissions being filed or the deadline date.

Example of differences between ex parte and inter partes hearings.

 Average time to issue hearing report:
1 week and 1 day (6 working days)
Average time to issue decision:
16 weeks (78 working days)		 Average time to issue hearing report:
6 days (5 working days)

Average time to issue decision:
15 weeks and 4 days (76 working days)
Register Requests
We will action requests to correct names and addresses and record registrable transactions (such as a change of owner) within 2 weeks (10 working days) of receipt.		 Patents:
1 week and 3 days

Trade Marks and Designs:
1 week and 3 days

 Patents:
3 days (1 working day)

Trade Marks and Designs:
1 week and 3 days (6 working days)
Customer Satisfaction
Average overall satisfaction with the IPO of 85% Customer satisfaction is not measured on a monthly basis. The figure reflects performance in our most recent customer survey.		 87% [Q1 2023-24] 87% [Q1 2023-24]

Published 9 July 2014
Last updated 17 October 2023 + show all updates

  1. Customer performance for September 2023 added.

  2. August 2023 performance rating added.

  3. Performance for July 2023 added.

  4. June 2023 performance added.

  5. April and May 2023 performance review added.

  6. March 2023 performance added.

  7. January and February 2023 performance review added.

  8. Update to December call performance.

  9. November and December 2022 performance review added.

  10. October 2022 performance review added.

  11. September 2022 performance rating added.

  12. August 2022 performance rating added.

  13. Performance for July 2022 added.

  14. Performance for June 2022 added.

  15. May 2022 performance added.

  16. Performance for April 2022 added.

  17. March 2022 performance added.

  18. February 2022 performance added.

  19. January 2022 performance added.

  20. December 2021 performance added.

  21. November 2021 performance added.

  22. October 2021 performance added.

  23. September 2021 performance added.

  24. August 2021 performance added.

  25. Figures for July 2021 added.

  26. Figures for June 2021 added.

  27. Figures for January 2019 to March 2020 updated.

  28. Performance against Customer Service Standards October to December 2019 added.

  29. Performance against Customer Service Standards July to September 2019 added

  30. Performance against Customer Service Standards April to June 2019 added.

  31. Figures for Jan 2019 to March 2019 updated.

  32. Figures for October to December 2018 added.

  33. Figures for July to September 2018 added.

  34. Performance against Customer Service Standards April to June 2018 added.

  35. Performance against Customer Service Standards April 2017 – March 2018 updated.

  36. Figures for December 2017 to February 2018 added.

  37. Figures for April 2017 to March 2018 updated.

  38. Figures for April to October 2017 added.

  39. Figures for November and December 2016 added.

  40. Figures for October added.

  41. Figures for September 2016 performance against standard added.

  42. Figures for July and August 2016 added.

  43. Figures for June 2016 added.

  44. Figures for April and May 2016 added.

  45. 2015 to 2016 PDF updated with March 2016 figures.

  46. Figures for February 2016 added.

  47. Figures for January 2016 added.

  48. Figures for November and December added

  49. Figures for October added.

  50. Figures for September 2015 added.

  51. Figures for July 2015 added.

  52. Figures for June 2015 added.

  53. Figures for May 2015 added.

  54. Figures for April 2015 have been added.

  55. March 2015 service standard data added.

  56. The published note of 10 April 2015 reads ‘Figures for January 2015 have been added’ this should of read ‘Figures for February 2015 added’.

  57. Figures for January 2015 have been added.

  58. Figures for January 2015 have been added.

  59. Figures for December 2014 have been added.

  60. Figures for Nov 2014 have now been published.

  61. October 2014 Performance against Customer Service Standards figures have been published.

  62. 2014 to 2015 performance added.

  63. First published.

Highlights content goes here...

Summary of Transparency Data: IPO Customer Service Standards

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) publishes transparency data on its customer service standards, providing an overview of the level of service customers can expect and the performance against these targets.

Disclosure

The IPO is currently meeting or exceeding many of its customer service standards, despite being impacted by unprecedented demand in some areas. To address these delays, the IPO is recruiting and training additional staff and improving process efficiency.

Service Standards and Performance

The following service standards and performance data are provided:

1. Information Centre:
t Answering telephone calls within 60 seconds: 98% (August 2023), 97% (September 2023)
t Responding to written enquiries within 5 working days: 100% (August 2023), 99% (September 2023)
2. Trade Mark and Designs Examination:
t Issuing first report on domestic and international cases within 2 weeks: 90% (August 2023), 90% (September 2023)
3. Patents:
t Preliminary Examination: completing all examinations within 4 weeks: 98% (August 2023), 98% (September 2023)
t Patent Search: issuing search reports within 6 months: 90% (August 2023), 90% (September 2023)
t Patent Examination: performing full substantive examination within 3.5 years: 90% (August 2023), 90% (September 2023)
t Patent Acceleration: dealing with all requests for accelerated processing within 2 months: 97% (August 2023), 90% (September 2023)
t Hearing Decisions: issuing hearing reports and formal decisions within 2 weeks and 12 weeks, respectively
4. Register Requests:
t Actioning requests to correct names and addresses and record registrable transactions within 2 weeks: 1 week and 3 days (Patents), 1 week and 3 days (Trade Marks and Designs)
5. Customer Satisfaction:
t Average overall satisfaction with the IPO: 85% (reflecting performance in the most recent customer survey)

Update History

The transparency data has been updated 38 times since its first publication on 9 July 2014, with the latest update on 17 October 2023. Each update includes new performance data for the preceding month.

Intellectual Property Office

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