UK officials involved in Brexit negotiations have indicated that EU-wide intellectual property rights will be replaced with equivalent UK rights after the end of the transition period.
Currently, EU Trade Marks (EUTM) and Registered Community Designs (RCD) are valid in both the UK and the rest of the EU. The draft withdrawal agreement includes eight articles relating to intellectual property detailing how such EU and Community registered designs are likely to be treated over coming years.
It suggests that separate UK and EU trade mark and registered design applications do not need to be filed, which has the ‘belt and braces’ approach adopted by many businesses prior an announcement on how conversions would be treated post-Brexit.
At this stage, it is unclear whether this conversion will happen automatically, or require action by the holder of the rights. Equally, the situation regarding the potential levying of charges has yet to be clarified. However, it does give some reassurance that holders of EU trade marks registered before the end of the transition period can expect an enforceable intellectual property right in the UK following the end of the transition period in December 2020, and that the renewal date will be the same. Similarly, anyone holding a Community registered design right will become the holder of a UK registered design right.
It is also expected that a new UK unregistered design right will be created to provide the wider protection currently offered by the EU unregistered design right.
The draft agreement also states that protection will continue beyond December 2020 for international registrations of trade marks or designs which designate the EU via the Madrid or Hague centralised application systems for registration in multiple jurisdictions. The UK was already an independent signatory to the Madrid Protocol, and will independently accede to the Hague Agreement in June 2018. The UK will also continue to be a member of WIPO – the World Intellectual Property Organisation – which administers these international processes.
Following Brexit and alongside any UK registrations, businesses seeking protection in Europe will be able to register an EUTM or RCD to cover all remaining EU member states. However, filing through WIPO may become the simplest option, as it covers the UK, the EU and countries such as the USA or Japan, with 68 countries signed up to the Hague Agreement and 116 to the Madrid Protocol.
For national protection solely within the UK, trade marks, registered designs, patents and copyright is administered by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and governed by the Intellectual Property Act 2014.
Published article: 24th April 2018
