Practice notes to help registered attorneys understand their rights and obligations.
What are practice notes?
The Board and the Designated Manager regularly publish practice notes to help support registered attorneys to understand their rights and obligations.
These practice notes may change from time to time.
Designated Manager practice notes
To date, practice notes have been issued on:
- Annual audits of compliance with statutory continuing professional education
- Proper maintenance of files
- Copyright in patent specifications.
Continuing Professional Education Audit reports
Trade marks and patent attorneys are audited for compliance with the statutory continuing professional education (CPE) requirements set out in the Patents Regulations 1991 and the Trade Marks Regulations 1995. These audits are completed by the Designated Manager on an annual basis.
You can download CPE Audit reports since 2019-20 below.
Board practice notes
To date, practice notes have been issued on:
- Making file notes
- Proper maintenance of files
- Copyright in patent specifications
Keeping file notes (Jan 2026)
The Board has provided a new practice note - Keeping File Notes - that contains important guidance informed by several recent discipline matters. Guidance includes:
- Reasons for maintaining file notes
- Guidelines on what information should be included in a file note
- Best practice for recording verbal instructions or advice
Ownership of files (Jan 2026)
The Board has updated its practice note on the Ownership of Files with current guidance and additional examples relating to client property, including:
- Additional examples of client property which should be delivered upon the client's request, and
- Clarifying documents that are not client property.
Copyright in patent specifications
This practice note was published to help registered attorneys understand their rights and obligations regarding patent specifications, particularly those prepared for provisional applications. It will facilitate protection of a client's invention in a reasonable timeframe and at a reasonable cost to the client.
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Keep your knowledge up to date
You'll need to complete continuing professional education (CPE) activities each year to help keep your knowledge up to date.
