Sara Purcell

Intellectual Property Office UK

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is the official government body responsible for intellectual property (IP) rights in the United Kingdom. These rights include: Patents Designs Trade marks Copyright We are an Executive Agency of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT). As part of DSIT, we are responsible for the role of IP rights in supporting innovation. Under DSIT, the IPO is directed and controlled by corporate governance rules to ensure that it supplies public services of the highest quality, shares good ideas, controls costs and above all delivers what it promises under its corporate priorities. To ensure that it acts 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 the IPO 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.