Guidance

Terms and conditions for use of Intellectual Property Office Deposit Accounts

Updated 5 November 2025

1. Who we are

These Services are operated by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). We have our offices at

Concept House
Cardiff Road
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8QQ

10 South Colonnade
Canary Wharf
London
E14 4PU

2. IPO Customer Deposit Accounts

2.1 These Services allow customers to:

2.1.1 apply to open a deposit account at the IPO

2.1.2 pay ‘top-up’ funds into the deposit account and

2.1.3 use the funds in the deposit account to pay for fees and services of the IPO

3. By using our Deposit Account services, you accept these terms

3.1 By using our deposit account services, you confirm that you accept these terms and conditions and that you agree to comply with them.

4. Definitions

4.1 Where the words set out below are used in this document, they will have the definitions given below:

• ‘account charge’ is the term used for the payment to the IPO when a customer chooses to use funds from a deposit account to make that payment

• ‘daily balance’ means the balance of funds available for use on the deposit account at a given date

• ‘deposit account’ means a unique account which holds customer money in advance of the customer using it for payment of services or fees

• ‘IPO’, ‘us’ or ‘we’ means the UK Intellectual Property Office. Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office

• ‘Form DP1’ is the IPO form customers are required to use when applying for a deposit account entitled “Application to open a deposit account (DP1)”

• ‘Form DP2’ is the IPO form customers are required to complete when making Top-up payments to their deposit account entitled “Deposit account Top Up form (DP2)”

• ‘Services’ means the deposit account services as set out in clause 2

• ‘Top-up’ is the term used when customers make payments to increase the balance of funds on their deposit account

• ‘you’ is a reference to you as an individual user of the Services (and ‘your’ shall be construed accordingly)

5. Deposit Account - Application and maintenance

5.1 You can open a deposit account with us, which is intended to help users who regularly use the services of the IPO. To apply for a deposit account:

5.1.1 You will need to request the Form DP1 by e-mailing customeraccounts@ipo.gov.uk

5.1.2 All communications relating to your deposit account(s) should be sent to customeraccounts@ipo.gov.uk

5.1.3 You must fill in an application Form DP1, including confirmation of your initial deposit made by bank transfer, and send it to us.

5.1.4 You must pay in at least £200, but there is no upper limit to what you can pay.

5.1.5 You can also open more than one account by filling in a separate application form for each one.

5.1.6 We will write to tell you when we have opened your account and what your account number is. You can then start to use your account. You should quote your account number on any forms or service requests that you send us or whenever you contact us about your account(s).

5.2 Your deposit account number may be presented in the format DXXXXXXX or DXXXXX. We require you to quote this in your communications with us.

5.3 You must inform us in writing if you want to make changes to your account such as the name of the account or the address of the account holder, or to merge accounts. We may ask you to provide evidence of the reasons for the change.

5.4 You must inform us in writing if you want to close your account. Any remaining funds will be returned to you.

5.5 We reserve the right to close any deposit accounts if they have not been used within a 12-month period. We will write to inform you that we intend to close it and will return any remaining balance to you within 10 working days of closing the deposit account. You must inform us in writing if you do not want us to do so. We reserve the right to close an account at any time.

5.6 Any funds due back to you from the deposit account will be made to the originating bank account. If this is not possible, additional evidence will be required to ensure funds are being returned to the appropriate person/organisation.

5.7 You will ensure the deposit account is always protected against unauthorised use or modification and that the information within the deposit account is always protected against disclosure to any unauthorised party.

5.8 You agree not to use the deposit account or these Services in any way that breaches any applicable local, national, or international law or regulation.

5.9 If we suspect unauthorised access to the account or to information within it, we reserve the right to block access to the account and these Services. In the event of this happening, we will contact you to let you know what we have done, and work with you to seek a resolution.

6. Deposit Account - Balance ‘Top-ups’

6.1 You are responsible for checking the balance on your deposit account and making sure there are sufficient funds available to pay for any fees due or other services you undertake.

6.2 Deposit accounts must be ‘topped-up’ by making a payment in accordance with and accompanying a Form DP2.

6.3 Top-up payments must be made by bank transfer only, and your Deposit Account number must be quoted.

6.4 Insufficient balance in your deposit account may result in your transaction(s) failing. It is your responsibility to ensure Top-up transfers are made on time.

6.5 Funds will be allocated to your deposit account within 3 working days following receipt in our bank. Whilst there may be occasions where it is processed sooner, we do not guarantee this.

6.6 Failure to provide a completed Form DP2 or quote accurate payment references may result in your funds taking longer than 3 working days to be allocated to your deposit account.

6.7 To avoid any re-dating of effective filing dates, it is essential that your account has sufficient balance for all transactions taking place.

7. Deposit Account - Statements

7.1 You must inform us whether you require a weekly or monthly statement when you open your account. References in this clause 7 to “period” shall mean the weekly or monthly period covered by your statement to reflect your requirement confirmed to us. If your requirements change you must inform us in writing at customeraccounts@ipo.gov.uk

7.2 You must confirm whether you want to receive daily balance email notifications.

7.3 You confirm you will perform sufficient checks on the statements provided to ensure all services requested by you have been accounted for correctly.

7.4 You confirm you will notify us immediately of any discrepancies you identify in your statement(s) by e-mailing customeraccounts@ipo.gov.uk

7.5 We will send out statements early in the period after transactions have taken place, to the e-mail address associated with the account.

7.6 The statement will show the balance brought forward from the last period, this period’s transactions, and the closing balance on the account. You confirm you will notify us immediately if there is insufficient information provided within your statement for you to complete the checks as per clause 7.3 above.

7.7 We will send you a statement even if there has been no business in the period. The statement will show the opening and closing balances. We will not send you a statement if there have been no transactions in the period and the balance is Nil.

8. Deposit Account – Account Charges

8.1 We will charge transactions to your account when we process them. By using the Services and completing your transactions, or by submitting written instructions to us, you authorise us to make account charges to your deposit account. We will debit your deposit account for any account charges applicable to transactions completed digitally by you using the Services (including through our existing services and our One IPO services) or upon receipt of your written instruction.

8.2 Digital transactions will be applied to your deposit account as they complete, and charges applicable to written instruction will be applied as they are processed by us.

8.3 We will not allow you to overdraw your account.

8.4 Account charges (debits) will be applied to your deposit account in the order that we successfully process digital transactions, forms or service requests, or any other items such as correction items, e.g. extra claims or pages.

8.5 If a refund on a transaction is due, we will apply this to your account as a credit. We will write to tell you what we have done.

8.6 If underpayments are identified during processing, we will debit these against your account for the transaction to complete. We will write to tell you what we have done.

8.7 Account charges will be made to the deposit account quoted. If you have more than one account, you must make sure you quote the appropriate deposit account number.

8.8 We will send you a paid invoice or receipt to confirm any fees charged to your account or send an invoice to confirm any other orders. We will also write to tell you of any refunds credited or other adjustments. We will not write to confirm top up of your deposit account; these will appear on your regular statements.

8.9 If a form needs a fee to be paid to get a filing date, we will not give it a filing date unless there is enough money in your account. The only fee-bearing forms we can give filing dates without fee payments are trade mark applications and patent applications (except NP1s), where time is allowed to pay the fee later.

8.10 We will treat any instruction from your organisation which contains the relevant deposit account name and number as a valid instruction to charge or credit the deposit account quoted.

8.11 No interest is payable on any monies standing to the credit of any deposit account.

9. How we may use your personal information

9.1 We will only use your personal information in relation to these Services as set out in our Privacy notice for personal data processed for the administration of Intellectual Property Rights, as supplemented by clauses 9.1.1 to 9.1.3. When you use these Services:

9.1.1 we will collect personal data including your name and, if you are using the Services as an individual as opposed to on behalf of an organisation, your address, email address, telephone number and financial details required in Form DP1 and Form DP2;

9.1.2 our lawful basis for processing personal data in relation to the Services is:

(a) where you are using the Services as an individual, that the processing is necessary for the performance of the contract, or in order to take steps prior to entering into a contract, to which you are a party (as a result of your acceptance of these terms and conditions), as per Article 6(1)(b) of the UK GDPR; and

(b) where you are using the Services on behalf of an organisation, that the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us, as per Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR;

9.1.3 we will use your:

(a) contact details (for example telephone numbers and addresses, including email address(es)) to contact you in relation to the Services, for example about your application for a deposit account or for providing you with statements or daily balance emails; and

(b) financial details to allow us to make account charges, verify transactions and provide you with refunds;

9.2 We will retain the personal data that we collect about you in connection to the Services in line with our retention policy.

9.3 For more information about our use of your personal information, including the rights you have, how long we will keep your personal information, and how to contact us if you have a query or complaint about the use of your information, please see our privacy notice.

9.4 All personal information is handled in accordance with the relevant intellectual property legislation, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018.

10. We may make changes to these terms

10.1 If we make any changes to these terms and conditions, we will write to you using the email address associated with your deposit account.

10.2 By continuing to use the deposit accounts after we have emailed you about the changes to the terms and conditions, you indicate that you agree to the changes made.

11. Governing law and jurisdiction

11.1 These terms and conditions and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.

11.2 The English courts will have non-exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to, these terms and conditions and/or the Services. This means that all claims relating to these terms and conditions and/or the Services can be settled by a judge (or a number of judges) in an English court. However, we retain the right to bring proceedings against you for breach of these terms and conditions in your country of residence or any other relevant country.

Updated July 2025