UK Trade Mark Attorneys Put Forward Proposals For Regulatory Reform

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

16 June 2004

In a joint submission in response to Sir David Clementi's review of the UK's legal services sector, the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (ITMA) and the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents (CIPA) have put forward new proposals for the regulation of the legal professions, based on a model used in New South Wales, Australia.

Under the ITMA/CIPA proposals, a Legal Services Office (LSOf) would be created, comprising members of the different legal professions, which would have general oversight of the existing industry bodies with regard to disciplinary matters and complaints.

The LSOf would determine which professional code should be applied in each case, thus ensuring that patent and trade mark attorneys receive equal treatment compared to barristers and solicitors from the regulator.

The bodies suggested that their proposal represents a "fair compromise" between options A and B as outlined in the consultation document.

The ITMA and CIPA also expressed support for the concept of legal disciplinary practices (LDPs), and slammed the current system in the United Kingdom whereby different legal professions cannot co-exist in the same partnership, arguing that: the present restrictions are all highly artificial and lead to complex separations between business units that bear no relation to the actual services offered.

However, they noted that "for qualified patent and trade mark attorneys there may need to be changes to the law of privilege and to the legislation restricting the use of professional titles in this field, in order for...[the] business structure to be viable".

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