The British Intellectual Property Office's Online Support Tools

Intellectual Property Office
Crown copyright, Licence Intellectual Property Office














Jane Lambert

One of the recommendations of Prof. Hargreaves's review of intellectual property and growth which was commissioned and largely implemented by the Coalition government in 2011 was that

"The IPO should draw up plans to improve accessibility of the IP system to smaller companies who will benefit from it. This should involve access to lower cost providers of integrated IP legal and commercial advice."

The Intellectual Property Office has tried to carry out that recommendation by developing support tools for use by academics, business owners, entrepreneurs, investors, professional advisors and other members of the public.  There is now a portal for those tools on the government's website at https://www.ipo.gov.uk/ip-support/.

The portal looks like this:


















There are 9 colour coded icons:
  • IP Equip
  • IP Heakthcheck
  • B2B Toolkit
  • IP for Investment
  • IP for Research
  • IP Tutor
  • Lambert Toolkit
  • Intellectual Asset Management Guide
  • IP Tutor Plus.
Icons that are likely to interest business are this colour:
















Those likely to interest universities are this colour:
















It is necessary to register with the IPO to use these resources.  That requires completion of a short form and responding to a verification email.  Simple really!  Even an intellectual property lawyer can do it.

There are of course many other reliable sources of advice and information that are free or inexpensive.  I mentioned the British Library's Business and IP Centre only yesterday in my NIPC London blog (see Useful Seminars at the British Library  17 Dec 2019 NIPC London).  Members of the IPO's staff attend and often speak at  IP awareness events across the nation (see the IPO Events Calendar). The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys and the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys hold regular IP clinics in conjunction with local Business and IP Centres.  There are also my own in London, Yorkshire (see  Barnsley Pro Bono IP Clinic 12 Nov 2019 7 Nov 2019) and North Wales (see IP Database Searches and Understanding Specifications (30 Nov 2019 NIPC Wales).

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or free or inexpensive IP resources generally should call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

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