With some trepidation I opened a letter from the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) yesterday. I say trepidation because the last two letters I received from them requested mind bendingly difficult requests for re-wording of my patent claims (the sentences that ‘claim’ novelty etc). But this letter felt different, it was thinner and had a stiff cardboard in it. Oh oh, I thought, cardboard can mean only one thing…….a certificate of some kind and surely they don’t issue them for rejections! The letter announced, without preamble or mention of our …
