United Kingdom has been suspended for Brexit until October 30th 2019. In the meantime, an agreement will be drawn up for the country’s EU exit which the British Parliament can agree on.
As a EUTM owner, you should be aware of the following if case if a no-deal Brexit:
- Your EU registration will stay in force and be protected in the remaining 27 member states of the EU, until its expiry date.
- You will keep the same classification and application date/registration date/expiry date on your comparable mark in the UK.
- The application number and registration number of your comparable mark will have “UK009” followed by the EUTM number.
- Renewal of your comparable mark should be filed at UKIPO (the UK Intellectual Property Office).
- EU-trademark applications that are still pending on 30th of October will not automatically be copied to the UK. This means that you must file a request to receive your comparable mark in the UK.
- Registered designs will be copied to the UK database in the same way as mentioned above.
- International registrations through WIPO that designate the EU, will not have protection in the UK after Brexit. This means that if you want your existing IR-trademark registration to have protection in the UK, you will have to file a subsequent designation covering the UK.
- In opposition cases where the EUIPO has ruled in your favor and rejected the counterpart’s application, this rejected trademark can still be applied for in the UK. You should therefor monitor trademark applications in the UK for the following 9 months to ensure that the counterpart has not filed for a comparable mark in the UK.
If the UK is an important market for your business, we recommend to file for a national UK-trademark right away, in order to minimize the risk for transition problems during Brexit. This would mean double protection in the UK, which is beneficial when securing your trademark portfolio.
Contact us for any further queries, we are happy to help secure your trademark portfolio prior to Brexit.
For more information about Brexit and how it may affect your IPR please visit the link below:
https://www.prv.se/sv/om-oss/aktuellt/nyheter/scenarier-vid-en-hard-brexit
Do you want more information on how to set up a proactive IP-strategy? We at InstanTM AB are always up to date with current events in the industry, contact us today and we’re happy to help!
