What we do
We are the official government body responsible for granting Intellectual Property (IP) rights in the United Kingdom (UK). These rights include:
- Patents
- Designs
- Trade marks
- Copyright
We are an Executive Agency of the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). As part of the DIUS, we are responsible for the role of IP rights in supporting innovation.
Our Corporate Plan sets out what we plan to do in the coming year.
Our Annual Report lets you know what we have done in the past year.
As an Executive Agency of the DIUS we are directed and controlled by corporate governance rules to ensure that we, supply public services of the highest quality, share good ideas, control costs and above all deliver what we are supposed to.
To ensure that we act within these rules Ministers appoint independent members to sit on a Steering Board. This Steering Board has no executive functions; its role is to advise Ministers, through our Director General, on the strategies that we must adopt.
The Steering Board has established an Audit Committee to assist and advise it on risk, control, governance and associated issues. The Committee acts in a non-executive capacity.
