On November 30th, the Director of the International Software Quality Institute (iSQI GmbH), Stephan Goericke, and the President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), Rex Black, signed an agreement that iSQI will vest its “ISTQB” trademark rights in ISTQB.

Rex Black expressed his thanks to Stephan Goericke on behalf of the ISTQB for his willingness to sell the rights on this trademark. Stephan Goericke is content as well: “The transfer of the “ISTQB” trademark rights to the ISTQB is a big step for all of us. It supports the transparency and the formation of the ISTQB as a legal entity. The trademark “ISQTB“ is well established in the IT field and the certification scheme “ISTQB Certified Tester” is internationally accepted and well set-up.”

The standard „ISTQB Certified Tester“ is an independent certification scheme for software testers. It has been developed by the registered organization „Arbeitskreis Software-Qualität und -Fortbildung“ (ASQF e.V.), the single shareholder of iSQI, in Erlangen as „ASQF Certified Tester“. The foundation of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board in 2002 greatly aided the efforts to establish the scheme internationally. The ISTQB is the umbrella organization with 28 national member boards at present. It guarantees the uniformity and comparability of the content of teaching and of examination in all participating countries.

When the International Software Quality Institute was founded in 2004 as subsidiary company of the ASQF e.V., the scheme was renamed “ISTQB Certified Tester”. Up to the transfer, ASQF and iSQI had held the "ISTQB" trademark rights in trust worldwide.


The International Software Quality Institute oversees the development and establishment of vocational training standards for the education and certification in software quality professions and organizes seminars and tutorials. The iSQI certification program includes standards such as ISTQB Certified Tester, iSQI Certified Professional for Software Architecture and iSQI Certified Professional for Project Management. Moreover, the Institute certifies assessors in 19 countries who are trained according to the education standard “iNTACS”. The International Assessor Certification Scheme (iNTACS) is based on ISO/IEC 15504 (SPiCE). In the near future, the Certified Professional for Configuration Management will also belong to iSQI’s certification program. Schemes in progress are Certified Professional for Requirements Engineering, Certified Professional for IT Security Management and EU Innovation Manager.