A landmark achievement for CITMA, the Charter recognises its members' distinctive and pre-eminent position as legal experts in the trade mark and design community. ITMA was awarded this rare honour by The Queen at a meeting of The Privy Council, for its important role in representing the specialist work of trade mark attorneys in the United Kingdom.
Fully qualified CITMA members can now use the official title ‘chartered trade mark attorneys', which signifies their status as the leading practitioners in their field; providing strategic advice on trade mark and design portfolios to help businesses protect valuable intellectual property assets.
Commenting, Kate O'Rourke MBE, President of CITMA, said: "To be awarded a Royal Charter is due recognition of the great work of our members as intellectual property professionals and of CITMA as an organisation.
"This new status provides a seal of quality for the work of our members and the value their work provides to businesses in the UK and across the globe."
Originally founded in 1934, CITMA is a UK-based professional membership organisation that helps to shape intellectual property law and practice - nationally and internationally. It represents the interests of over 1500 trade mark and design professionals. Members include fully qualified trade mark attorneys, those in training and support roles, and barristers and solicitors with a trade mark or design interest working in the UK and overseas.
Chartered trade mark attorneys provide companies with a full risk assessment regarding company names, trading styles and branding, taking a commercial view and advising on next steps. This level of strategic advice is valuable to businesses as correctly registered intellectual property increases the value of organisations in a way that is important to banks and investors.
At the macro-economic level, chartered trade mark attorneys represented by CITMA make significant contributions to the wider UK and EU IP economies:
- According to the Intellectual Property Office Fast Facts report in 2015, trade marks were the second most invested in type of intellectual property right with over £14 billion of investment
- There has been a 35% increase in demand for trade marks since 2012
- According to a 2016 report by the European Union Intellectual Property Office, trade mark-intensive industries contributed nearly 36% of the EU's entire GDP from 2011-2013
- The same report found that design
intensive industries contributed 13%
of EU's entire GDP over the same two year period - The UK is the 7th most competitive country in the world for intellectual property protection according to 2016/2017 World Economic Forum report on global competitiveness
Baroness Neville-Rolfe, Minister of State for Energy and intellectual Property, said: "The Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys fully deserves its Chartered status. I am glad their hard work and commitment to achieving the highest levels of both technical and professional knowledge has been recognised.
"Protecting IP rights is important to growth, innovation and creativity. CITMA and its members will continue to help businesses protect their brands here and overseas."