After thirteen years we’re preparing to say goodbye to Ipsum, our online patent search tool. Emma Sharman, Senior Transformation Product Manager, reflects back on the role Ipsum has played… and explains what’s next. 

As 2024 draws to a close it’s a time for reflecting on endings and new beginnings. Early in 2025 we’ll be launching a new online search tool for patents. Sadly, that means that we’ll soon be saying goodbye to Ipsum and our existing patents journal. 

There will be no dual running period, and no farewell tour. It’ll be a straight swap from Ipsum to the new search and journal. Don’t worry though, Ipsum and the journal will automatically be redirected to the new service for a little while.  

Top tip: you might want to update your patent search bookmarks once the new service goes live. We will have  redirects in place for a limited time.  

Before we say our final farewell, let’s reflect back on the life and times of Ipsum. 

Remembering Ipsum 

I worked on developing our very first electronic patent journal, so saying goodbye to Ipsum and the patent journal is a full circle moment for me! Ipsum launched way back in 2011 – that was 13 years ago (yes, really!).  

2011 was an eventful year: 

• Adele was dominating the charts with Rolling in the deep 

• Game of Thrones aired for the first time 

• Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon… for the first time! (He’s now on 7!) 

• Royal wedding fever swept the nation with the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton  

• Colin Firth won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of King George VI in The King’s Speech. 

But while the country celebrated the royal wedding with street parties, at the IPO, we were also celebrating the launch of Ipsum. It marked the very first time that UK patent data was made available for free online and it was the biggest step-change in public availability of patent data for decades.  

Ipsum changed our patent world.  

Before Ipsum:  

• you had to fill out a form to request patent data  

• you could only get patent data via email or CD (remember those?)  

• it required a fee – £5 per document  

• there would be a lengthy wait for your data too. 

With Ipsum: 

• examiners benefited from Ipsum – it allowed them to identify instantly why the IPO did or didn’t grant a patent for the first time 

• our customers really liked it!  

• when it launched, the then President of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, said: 

‘This online access to patent files will certainly make it easier and quicker for our profession to get hold of up-to-date information. It will also make the patent system more transparent and understandable for business people and the general public.’ 

With Ipsum receiving around 200,000 searches in the last year alone, there’s no doubting the impact it’s had. 

Ipsum’s biggest mystery 

It’s time to address a question that has been on everyone’s lips for the last 13 years. Why was Ipsum called Ipsum?  ‘Ipsum’ was chosen after an internal naming competition, but what does it mean? 

The first part of the answer refers to ‘lorem ipsum’, latin placeholder text that is used when drafting documents.  

The other part of the answer is that Ipsum can be broken down to ‘IP sum’, as in adding together, or bringing together all IP in one place.

So, there you, go, you can finally sleep at night! The name for the new search will be a bit more straightforward, but we’ll miss that bit of mystery. 

Looking to the future 

Ipsum has served us well and was a massive step forward at the time, but a lot has changed since 2011. Taylor Swift is dominating the charts now, Novak Djokovic didn’t win Wimbledon (although admittedly he got pretty close) and Game of Thrones ended… it didn’t end well, but it ended. 

Like a pop culture reference, our services can’t stand still. With Ipsum you’re limited to  searching by patent reference number, and while it’s great for those who are really familiar with patents, it’s a challenge if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for.  

What can our new search tool do better? 

It’s our long-term goal to enable searches for patents, trade marks and designs through one tool… but we’re starting with patents. We want to open up access to data on UK patents even more and make that next big leap in opening up our data to the public. Afterall, one of the core purposes of the patent system is to share ideas and inspire innovation, while protecting inventors. 

You’ll still be able to search patents in the same way that you do now, but you will also have a much wider range of search options. There are loads of other really useful features coming too, but we’ll save those for the big launch.  

Goodbye Ipsum 

So, if you’ve been a regular visitor to Ipsum over the last 13 years, raise a glass, say your tearful goodbyes, and stand ready to update your bookmarks. Rest assured, there’s a bright future for UK patent searches as we welcome the new service. I’ll leave it for current CIPA President, Matt Dixon, to sum it all up: 

‘Ipsum has been our reliable source of accurate information for UK patents for well over a decade. It will feel strange to move on from using Ipsum, but having seen the new search tool myself, I’m excited to see the new possibilities for searching UK patent information, all with the continued reliability we’ve come to expect from the services of the UK IPO.’ 
 CIPA President, Matt Dixon 

Goodbye Ipsum and thank you!