Governance

Governance of the IP Federation is according to the following principles:

  • The Federation is a UK registered company limited by guarantee, operating under articles of association fully revised in October 2012.
  • Its members comprise around forty companies, most paying the “council fee” but a few paying the “committee-only fee”.
  • Additional funding may be received from associates of the Federation. There are six or so firms of solicitor associates, who have no voting rights.
  • A further class of associate to which former representatives of members who continue to contribute to the work of the Federation may belong is that of “policy advisor”. There are three or so policy advisors, who have no voting rights.
  • The Federation’s decision-making on most major issues is by a council which usually meets eleven times per year. The councillors are representatives of the members which pay the council fee, plus a representative of the CBI. Associates may attend meetings as observers.
  • One of the councillors is the president of the Federation and (usually) its sole director. Two other councillors are vice-presidents, namely the immediate past president and the person expected to stand for election as president for the following year.
  • There is a governance committee consisting of a chairman (not being the president), the president ex officio, and from three to five other councillors. The terms of reference of the governance committee include financial scrutiny. Its chairman reports to the council.
At general meetings of the Federation (usually just an annual general meeting in July of each year), all members vote, most particularly in relation to the occupancy of the positions of president and vice-presidents, and membership of the governance committee. The current list of responsibilities for governance committee members is as follows:
Staff issues Sarah Vaughan
Finance Karen Cawdell
Travel policy and approval of expenses Scott Roberts
Reviews of registers Julie Browne

 

For our governance policies click here»

There are in addition “open committees” to which all members of the Federation are entitled to send representatives, as well as various informal working groups. These comprise the following, along with the chair of each:

Patent committee Rob Knight
Trade mark committee Lia Young
Copyright & design committee Rob Carlin
Data & copyright committee Sonia Cooper
Litigation committee Ivan Burnside
Communications working group Danny Keenan
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) working group Gordon Harris
Trade working group Matthew Hitching