The Intellectual Property Office has published its Corporate Plan for 2026 to 2027, proving that an organisation devoted to protecting ideas occasionally has one of its own.
Published on 11 May, the plan sets out priorities for the year ahead. They include a modern and trusted intellectual property framework, the next phase of the One IPO transformation programme, and support for businesses hoping to secure investment, scale and compete internationally. The prototype has read the document carefully and asked whether a transformation programme is still allowed to have a normal sized stapler.
The official language is admirably ambitious. The IPO says it wants its framework to keep pace with technological advances and help the UK protect, maximise and enforce intellectual property in a fast changing digital world. This is a sensible objective, although it raises the delicate question of whether the digital world has been informed that it is expected to keep pace too.
The plan also says the IPO will help businesses unlock the full value of their intellectual property. This is welcome news for anyone with a promising invention, a useful brand or a revolutionary device currently represented by a folder called final final really final version seven.
The One IPO programme is entering its next phase, which means the transformation has itself been transformed into something requiring further transformation. Somewhere, a project manager has drawn a circle around the word modernisation and described the circle as a roadmap. The prototype has requested a legend, a compass and written confirmation that the roadmap is not another portal.
None of this makes the plan a comedy prop. Intellectual property rules matter because people and businesses need to know how their ideas can be protected, developed and used. A clear framework is more valuable than a mysterious system that demands three passwords, a reference number and proof that the applicant has not recently become a different sort of applicant.
The IPO says its work should support creativity, productivity, innovation and growth. The prototype has therefore submitted a concept for a filing system that opens first time, works on a phone and does not describe every error as an exciting opportunity to try again.
The application is still under consideration. It has been placed in a transparent case labelled strategic priority, then locked inside a modern digital cabinet whose recovery question is asking where the key has gone.
Source: GOV.UK.
