UK maintains the exhaustion of intellectual property rights regime, known as UK+.

The UK’s exit from the EU meant that it no longer had to follow the EU’s exhaustion laws. Therefore, as of January 2021, the UK no longer implemented the EU exhaustion regime. This opened the door for the UK to review the complicated choice of how the UK’s exhaustion of IP rights mechanism should apply to goods that are first sold in foreign markets. The issue at hand was whether the previous arrangements were in the best interests of the UK’s economy and society.

The UK government’s decision to maintain the UK+ exhaustion rights regime allows UK businesses and consumers to benefit from a choice of goods from across Europe. This means that products protected by IP rights can be bought from across the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK, and resold in the UK without needing the permission from the IP owners. This decision ensures certainty and stability for those undertaking parallel trade across markets, ensures competition in the marketplace as well as fair access to IP protected goods.  It also gives consumers continued and ready access to these products.

Please feel free to reach out to our Trademark Team for further questions in relation to your trademarks- in the UK, Europe and beyond.

UK government introduced The Trade Marks (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 under the powers of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018(EUWA).

As a consequence, in case of a “no deal” Brexit, EU trademark rights will however continue to be protected in UK.

These are very good news for EU trademark owners!

From exit day, all existing registered EUTMs will be treated as if they had been applied for and registered under UK law.

For all registered EUTMs comparable UK trademarks will be created, which will be recorded on the UK register.

These UK rights will retain the filing dates recorded against the corresponding EUTMs and will also inherit any priority and/or seniority dates.

They will be fully independent UK trade marks which can be challenged, assigned, licensed or renewed, separately from the original EUTM.

Comparable rights will be created at no cost to the EUTM holder, and with as little administrative burden as possible.

If you hold a pending EUTM application on exit day, you will be able to apply for a domestic UK application.

To claim the earlier EU filing and/or priority date, the UK application must be submitted within nine months of exit day. The trade mark will then be treated as a UK application, and examined under UK law.

We will keep you informed on the developments regarding community and international designs and international trademarks designating the EU in due time.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information and the admintrative measures to be performed to keep your EU trademarks alive after Brexit.

Marie-Christine Simon