FICPI and FICPI-UK

The FICPI community is driven by a shared interest to promote solutions and advocacy for patent and trade mark attorneys in private practice.

All members of FICPI work in firms that offer patent and trade mark agency services as a business and are driven by a desire to maintain the highest professional standards and provide excellent service to their clients.

Many FICPI members are owners or aspire to participate in the ownership of their firms. In the UK, most firms have at least one FICPI member.

Membership is not automatic. In the UK, members are normally registered patent or trade mark attorneys and must be approved by FICPI-UK’s Council.

In countries and regions where there is no professional qualification as such, applicants for membership must provide references from several existing members, ideally in other countries.

FICPI membership thus gives members the confidence to recommend each other to clients in other countries.

FICPI-UK History

FICPI, The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys, was founded over 100 years ago by several pre-existing national IP associations in Europe to:

  • Strengthen relations between their members at the international level;
  • Work together to promote improvements to international IP systems to make them safer and more effective for their clients;
  • Deal with matters relating to the profession.

Since then, FICPI has grown into a global community of national IP associations, dedicated FICPI national sections and individual members in more than eighty-five countries and regions across six continents.

FICPI-UK was established in 1974 by a group of British patent and trade mark attorneys working in private practice firms, to serve as a national member association of FICPI.

FICPI-UK is the only organisation in the UK that exclusively represents the views of independent IP professionals.

FICPI-UK was one of the four founding organisations of IP Inclusive.

You can find out more about how FICPI advances the interests of its members on the FICPI website.

Benefits of Membership

FICPI uniquely combines education and advocacy on topics around patents, trade marks and other forms of IP, with a focus on developing the professional excellence of individual members and the business and management aspects of their firms.

In addition, membership of the FICPI community creates shared business opportunities, rooted in the confidence of recommending any FICPI member in another country or region.

FICPI’s perspective and influence helps members to understand better, and to have a greater opportunity to impact, developments in the IP world, than if they were standing alone.

Clients recognise the quality of FICPI members. They have trust in members in their own country and any other regions in which they do business.

Meetings, Conferences & Committees

FICPI conferences, committees and meetings are opportunities to gather insights from local UK professional colleagues or the international IP attorney community on IP practice-related issues or topics of IP law.

FICPI meetings feature top quality speakers and topics in enjoyable global locations, plus a fun social programme with activities ranging from dinners and tours to competitions and sports to enhance networking.

The selectivity of FICPI membership makes it easier for members to create introductions, connections, business opportunities and friendships with each other.

FICPI-UK organises various events for members and others throughout the year, including regular dinner meetings, often with a high-profile speaker. An AGM is held in the spring.

Each year, FICPI-UK organises a highly regarded Business Practice Seminar, with experienced and knowledgable speakers on a range of topics of relevance to running an IP firm.

Representing the Profession

FICPI-UK participates in regular meetings with UK Intellectual Property Office, including the Patent Practice Group, the Marks and Designs Forum and the Presidents Group meetings, to represent the views of patent and trade mark attorneys working in private practice in the United Kingdom. By virtue of its membership, FICPI-UK is the only IP association in the UK that is able to do this.

Members who have an issue that they would like FICPI-UK to take up at one of these meetings are invited to contact us.

Members of FICPI-UK also benefit from membership in the FICPI global community:

  • Exclusive access to the FICPI World Congress which is held every three years, bringing together FICPI members from all over the world to discuss and pass resolutions on issues of common interest or concern;
  • Reduced registration fees for FICPI’s Open Forum which is held in each of the two years between the Congress;
  • Opportunities to collaborate with colleagues from other jurisdictions on FICPI’s committee work, including the Study & Work Committee (“CET“), which deals with issues relating to IP laws and practice, and the Practice Management Committee (“PMC“), which looks at matters relevant to the management of IP firms.

Other members work in The FICPI Academy as tutors on FICPI patent drafting courses, such as SEADTM, which is organised in Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America.

All members of FICPI-UK have an entry in the global membership list where they can list their professional qualifications and technical background, noting particular areas of experience or specialism, and include a short biography with a photograph.

FICPI-UK has full representation by its official delegates on FICPI’s governing body, the Executive Committee (ExCo); several members of FICPI-UK have leading roles within FICPI; and two members of FICPI-UK have previously served as President of FICPI.

FICPI-UK Council

FICPI-UK is managed by a Council consisting of a President, a Secretary,  a Treasurer, the Immediate Past President, and six other persons, all of whom, except the Immediate Past President, are elected from among members by FICPI-UK at an AGM. In addition, Council may co-opt up to four other members. The current members of Council were elected at the AGM in May 2023.

Officers
Council Members (Elected)
Council Members (Co-opted)

* Delegate to FICPI’s Executive Committee.

Join FICPI

If you are a registered patent or trade mark attorney working in private practice in the United Kingdom, you are warmly invited to join the FICPI global community of independent IP attorneys. Please visit the How to Join page on this site to find out more.