Congratulations, Ron and Tibor

The IPKat is delighted to offer his congratulations to two of his friends who have done so much to improve the IP environment in the United Kingdom and indeed beyond it, and whose achievements have been recognised in the British 2007 New Years Honours List. They are

Ron Marchant, who has become a CB (Companion of the Order of the Bath). Ron has been Chief Executive of the UK Patents Office since January 2004, having worked his way up from being a humble patent examiner in 1969. In 2003 he ensured that The Patent Office was the first in the world to receive ISO 9001:2000 certification for the quality management of its pre-grant patent processing. Among Ron's other achievements is the relocation of the patent examining staff from London to South Wales in 1991. Well done, Ron, especially since you didn't have to retire first ...

Tibor Gold, who is now an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire). Tibor's many achievements are so well noted that the IPKat does not propose to list them here (you can read them here, though). Suffice it to say that - whether as a patent attorney, a trade mark attorney, an editor or as a leader - he has always given his best. More to the point, he has always made a point of going out of his way to help others, even if it means doing so in his own time and at the expense of his own preferred agenda.

The print in the New Years Honours List is small and the Kat's version of speed-reading is not hugely accurate. Accordingly, if any readers of the Honours List detect any names of IP worthies that he has missed, will they please let him know as soon as possible by emailing him here.