On 24 July 2025, the World Intellectual Property Organization ("WIPO") announced a global celebration of intellectual property examiners on 11 November 2025 and invited everybody to join in. As that global celebration coincides with Wales Enterprise Day, the Menai Science Park ("M-SParc") will combine the two celebrations with an in-person and online lunchtime seminar on how to apply for a UK patent, trade mark, registered design or plant breeder's right.
The seminar will begin with an introduction to intellectual property and an outline of rights that come into being automatically, such as copyrights and unregistered design rights and rights that have to be registered, such as patents, trade marks and registered designs.
Applications for patents have to be examined for compliance with the Patents Act 1977 and secondary legislation under that Act. The officials who carry out such examinations are called "patent examiners". We plan to introduce the audience to a serving or recently retired patent examiner who will explain his or her role and what he or she looks for in a patent application.
Applications to register trade marks also have to be examined for compliance with the Trade Marks Act 1994 and secondary legislation. The officials who carry out such examinations are known as "trade mark examiners", not surprisingly. We shall also introduce a serving or recently retired trade mark examiner who will explain his or her role and what he or she looks for in a trade mark application.
The procedure for registering designs is different because there is no substantive examination of design applications. There is therefore no such official as a "design examiner." However, we will explain the registration process and the steps that need to be taken to avoid expensive proceedings in the Intellectual Property Office's tribunals or the courts should someone challenge the registration.
Applications for plant breeders' rights are very different because they are handled not by the UK Intellectual Property Office but by the Plant Variety Rights Office in Cambridge. Plant breeders' rights used to be a minority interest among intellectual property practitioners, but climate change and the need to develop new drought or flood-resistant species, as well as the development of viticulture, have increased its importance. Aberystwyth University Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences is a leading research centre in this area. We shall invite a representative of the Plant Variety Rights Office to outline the procedure for obtaining plant breeders' rights in this country.
Although it is possible for a business owner or manager to apply successfully for a registered design, trade mark or even a patent, there is a lot that can go wrong with such applications. It is therefore advisable to instruct a patent attorney to prepare and prosecute a patent application, or a trade mark attorney to prepare and prosecute a trade mark application. Both patent and trade mark attorneys apply to register designs. We shall present both a patent attorney and a trade mark attorney to talk about their work and how they resolve examiners' queries and objections.
Sometimes an examiner's objections cannot be overcome, and the matter has to be resolved by an official appointed by the Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office known as a "hearing officer." This is where I come in because barristers often represent parties to disputes with examiners. Proceedings before hearing officers are less formal than court procedures, but the same rules of evidence and similar rules of procedure apply. I have written about such hearings in If the examiner says 'no' - ex parte hearings in the Trade Marks Registry on 10 August 2015 in NIPC London. I shall talk about proceedings before hearing officers and appeals to the courts or the Appointed Person at the seminar.
Although the emphasis will be on applications for patents, trade marks and designs in the United Kingdom, we will also discuss applications for European patents (including unitary patents), European Union trade marks and Community designs and plant breeders' rights and applications for patents, trade marks and designs outside Europe under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Madrid Protocol and the Hague Agreement.
Anyone wishing to discuss this article further may call me on 020 7404 5252 during UK office hours or send me a message through my contact form at any time.
