What does Brexit mean for Trade Marks?
Holders of EU Trade Marks (EUTMs) at the end of the transition period you will be given a fully equivalent UK right at no official cost and no forms will need to be filed. This means that if you own 10 EUTMs, on the day of exit, on the day after you will own 10 UK registrations plus 10 EU registrations (covering the remaining 27 member states). The UK registrations will retain the original filing, priority and seniority dates and the first renewal dates will be the same as the original EU registrations.
Applicants for EUTMs that are pending at the end of the transition period will have 9 months to reapply for the equivalent UK rights. The usual fees and forms will be required, but the original filing, priority and seniority dates will all be retained. To assist with this, Mewburn Ellis is offering to waive our service fees to re-file pending EU trade mark applications. Although applicants will be able to re-file, we recommend that you dual file now, if you wish to be certain that you will obtain a UK registered right by the end of the year.
What does Brexit mean for Designs?
Holders of Registered Community Designs (RCDs) at the end of the transition period will be given a fully equivalent UK right at no official cost and no forms will need to be filed. This means that if you own 10 RCDs on the day of exit, on the day after you will own 10 UK registrations plus 10 EU registrations (covering the remaining 27 member states). The UK registrations will retain the original filing, priority and seniority dates and the first renewal dates will be the same as the original EU registrations. Applicants for RCDs that are pending at the end of the transition period will have 9 months to reapply for the equivalent UK rights. The usual fees and forms will be required, but the original filing, priority and seniority dates will all be retained.
Our consistent advice, which we still consider to be the best course of action, is that in order to protect designs in the EU, it remains appropriate to continue filing design applications at the EUIPO, and that there is no legal necessity for dual filing in the UK at this time.
What does Brexit mean for Patents?
We’re expecting there will be little that’s different after Brexit for patents, because the existing European patent system will be unaffected by the UK leaving the EU.
FAQ's
The UK Government and the EU have agreed a The Withdrawal Agreement which includes provisions for dealing with IP rights. Read our Law and Practice guide on Protecting your IP – post Brexit where we answer some of the key questions around your IP rights based on the provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement and explain what happens as we move past the transition period. Further detail can be found here.
