Taking part in our patents pilot
We鈥檙e piloting our new digital patents service for a small number of customers. This guidance explains how you can get involved.
What is the patents pilot?
The pilot or 鈥榩rivate beta鈥� stage is where we bring a small number of customers onto the service to help us test, refine and improve it. This is a fundamental part of the development process that will allow us to build a great service for our customers.
Here are five reasons it鈥檚 so important for you to take part in the pilot:
- Hit the ground running 鈥� get early access to see how everything works and share knowledge with your colleagues.
- A chance to shape and influence 鈥� your feedback will guide us on where we need to make improvements.
- Work with us 鈥� put the service through its paces to make sure it鈥檚 working as you鈥檇 expect.
- Tell us what should come next 鈥� let us know which features are most important to you and what we should build next.
- Stay in the loop 鈥� be the first to get updates on where we are and how the new service is progressing.
How can I get involved?
We鈥檝e already had over 50 customers sign up to take part in the pilot, and we鈥檇 love to have more! If you want to take part, you can express an interest in joining by emailing [email protected].
We want to test with all the different types of customers who use our services, from attorney firms to lone inventors. So, whether you鈥檙e a patents veteran or new to all this, we鈥檇 love for you to take part.
What am I signing up to?
As a pilot customer you decide how much you want to use the new service. You can keep using our existing services as a pilot customer. If there鈥檚 something we want you to try out, we鈥檒l ask for your help, but ultimately the decision is yours.
The pilot will run for at least six months, but you don鈥檛 have to join on day one. We鈥檒l keep adding more customers as the pilot progresses.
We are starting very small with limited transaction volumes and numbers of people on the pilot. We will be increasing the numbers of people on the pilot and the number of transactions as the pilot progresses.
Is there anything else I should know?
-
the pilot is currently for patents only. We will be working on new digital services for trade marks and designs in the future, just not yet
-
it could be a few months before you鈥檙e invited to join the pilot. We鈥檙e gradually adding more users and features as we go. We鈥檒l keep you updated on progress
-
if you or your firm already file patents with us we鈥檒l have to work with you to clean up the patents data we hold for you before you join the pilot. This could take a while depending on how complex your data is
-
we want to add a small number of people from your firm - we鈥檒l let you know if we already have other people from your firm on the pilot
If you have any questions about the pilot, please email [email protected].