HOW HAS BREXIT AFFECTED IP RIGHTS? 

The UK formally left the EU on the 31st January 2020 and entered into a transition period that ran until the 31st December 2020. From the 1 January 2021 the laws surrounding IP have changed.

PATENts

Patents (both UK and European patents) have on the whole been unaffected by the UK’s departure from the EU.

TRADE MARKS AND DESIGNS

EU Trade Marks (EUTMs), Registered Community Designs (RCDs) and Unregistered Community Designs (UCDs) have been affected by the UK’s departure from the EU. Newly filed EUTMs and RCDs no longer cover the UK and a separate UK application is required.

If you had an existing EUTM or RCD on 31 December 2020, you will have automatically been granted an equivalent UK right. This involved the automatic ‘cloning’ of your existing registration, at no cost to yourself. However, if your application was pending on 31 December 2020 you now have 9 months in which to re-file your application in the UK to retain original priority and seniority dates.

UCDs have also been affected and will cease to cover the UK from the 1st January 2021. If you had an existing UCD on 31 December 2020 it will continue to subsist in the EU27 for the rest of its term. In the UK, it will automatically be replaced by a Continuing Unregistered Design (CUD), which provides the same protection as a UCD. New designs created in the UK from the 1 January 2021 will now be automatically protected by a newly created right called Supplementary Unregistered Design (SUD).

address for service

Another significant change to IP rights post Brexit is that a UK Address for Service (AfS) is now required for all new registered IP rights and proceedings before the UK IPO.