Professional & Financial Services UK-wide

Meet your professional, scientific and technical regulatory duties

If you practise as a patent attorney or registered trade mark attorney (SIC 74.90), you must be registered with the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg). This guide explains the registration requirement and ongoing professional obligations. This duty does not apply to other division 74 businesses.

Guide summary

If you work as a patent attorney or registered trade mark attorney, you must register with the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg). You must also meet ongoing duties including professional indemnity insurance, continuing professional development, and following the Code of Conduct. It is a criminal offence to use these job titles without being registered.

  • Register with IPReg if you call yourself a patent attorney or registered trade mark attorney
  • Pass IPReg’s qualifying exams before you can register
  • Hold professional indemnity insurance as required by IPReg
  • Complete continuing professional development (CPD) each year
  • Follow IPReg’s Code of Conduct at all times
  • Get extra authorisation from IPReg for litigation or court rights in IP cases
  • Check with IPReg if you practise in Scotland or Northern Ireland
  • It is a criminal offence to use the job titles without registration
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Related guides in Compliance & Legal

The activity-specific regulatory duty in division 74 sits on top of the universal workplace foundation. It applies only to patent attorneys and registered trade mark attorneys (SIC 74.90) — not to specialised designers, photographers, translators, interpreters or other professional service providers in this division.

IPReg registration for patent and trade mark attorneys

The titles "patent attorney" and "registered trade mark attorney" are protected by statute. Under Part V of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 274 to 286) and sections 82 to 87 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, only persons entered on the statutory register may use those titles. It is a criminal offence for an unregistered person to describe themselves as a patent attorney or registered trade mark attorney.

The Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg) is the approved regulator under the Legal Services Act 2007 framework. IPReg maintains the registers for both patent attorneys and registered trade mark attorneys, sets the Code of Conduct, and oversees compliance. Registration requirements include:

  • Qualification — you must hold the qualifying examinations recognised by IPReg (the patent examination board finals for patent attorneys, and the trade mark attorneys qualifying examinations for trade mark attorneys).
  • Professional indemnity insurance — IPReg requires registered attorneys to hold adequate professional indemnity insurance.
  • Continuing professional development — you must complete CPD in accordance with IPReg's requirements.
  • Code of Conduct — registered attorneys must comply with IPReg's Code of Conduct covering duties to clients, the court and the regulator.

Reserved legal activities — specifically the conduct of litigation and the exercise of rights of audience in intellectual property proceedings — require additional authorisation from IPReg beyond basic registration.

Title protection for patent attorneys and registered trade mark attorneys is UK-wide because intellectual property is a reserved matter. The Legal Services Act 2007 reserved-activities framework applies principally in England and Wales. If you practise in Scotland or Northern Ireland, check with IPReg whether additional territorial authorisation requirements apply to reserved legal activities in those jurisdictions.

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    What to do next

    Complete the compliance checklist to confirm you have met every obligation that applies to your business.

Official sources

Authoritative guidance for patent and trade mark attorney regulation.