Lord Smith to be the new Chair of IPReg

26th Jul 2018

The Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury (Chris Smith) will be the new Chair of The Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg).

Lord Smith

Lord Smith was appointed by an independent appointment panel and will take up the post on 7th September, replacing Acting Chair Steve Gregory.

Lord Smith was a Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury from 1983-2005 and served in Tony Blair's government as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport between 1997 and 2001.

After retiring as a Member of Parliament in 2005 he was made a life peer in the House of Lords. He has subsequently held a number of roles including as Chair of the Environment Agency, Master of Pembroke College Cambridge and Chairman of the Task Force on Shale Gas.

CITMA President Tania Clark said: “We look forward to working with Lord Smith to ensure a robust regulatory environment for the benefit of our profession and consumers. He will no doubt bring a wealth of experience and a new perspective to the role.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Steve Gregory his all his hard work during his time as Acting Chair.”

Commenting on his new role, Lord Smith said: “I am very pleased to have been appointed as the new Chair of IPReg. I am looking forward to working with the Board, executive team and our regulated community to ensure that our approach to regulation protects consumers and encourages a diverse profession, whilst recognising the importance and value of intellectual property to the UK economy.”

IPReg is the independent regulatory body for patent and trade mark attorneys.

Pic: Chris McAndrew [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons