New Year Honour for Chief Executive

Ron Marchant Chief Executive of the Patent Office has been awarded a Companion to the Order of the Bath (CB) for his contribution to intellectual property and innovation in the Queen’s New Year Honours List 2007.

The honour comes at the end of a busy year for Ron and the Patent Office. Ron has been active on both the national and international stage helping seek consensus and agreement on a number of European IP issues and influencing growing economic forces around the world such as China and India. His efforts in this arena have been very well recognised and he recently received the prestigious “best achievement in national and international affairs” at this year’s annual WORLDleaders Awards.

He has been the driving force behind the Office’s own change programme “Patent Office for the 21st Century” and The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property (hyperlink) published in December confirmed the crucial importance of IP to the success of the UK in the global economy.

Other highlights for the Office which Ron has been keen to support this year include the introduction of new services such as an electronic filing for patents cases and a mediation service to help customers resolve IP disputes and avoid unnecessary litigation costs.

Ron Marchant said “I am very proud to have received this honour. It is a privilege to lead an intellectual property office which has earned such high regard for customer service, impact on the international agenda, and the ability to change to meet future challenges. The staff of the office can be proud of their achievements. I have been bowled over by the response to this by family, friends, and colleagues and thank them all for their kind words. For the Office this is only the beginning of new era supporting innovation in the UK."

Editors' notes:

• Ron Marchant’s biography can be found on this web site.
• Gowers Review of Intellectual Property can be viewed on the Treasury web site page.

Date of release: 05 January 2007