Keep calm – no change regarding EU marks and designs after approval of the Brexit agreement

The European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) issued a press release in which clarifies the situation with the approved Withdrawal Agreement for Brexit by the European Parliament.

EUIPO stated that there will be no change regarding the EU trademarks and designs and their validity on the territory of the UK by the end of 2020. This includes the possibility of citing the national marks in procedures before the Office as well as the work of British Industrial property representatives.

For more information here.

Advertisement

EU trademarks in case of a hard Brexit – clarifications

The UK Patent Office published some clarifications what would happen with all European trademarks in case of a hard Brexit without a deal with the EU.

In that case, The UK will recognize all registered EU trademarks and will transform them into national trademarks. They will be indicated with UK009 in front of their EU numbers.

There will be no cost for the relevant owners and as little administrative burden as possible. However, the Patent Office will not issue trademark certifications for them. Information for these marks will be available in the UK trademark database.

When it comes to EU applications for trademarks, their owners will have up to 9 months to file identical applications in The UK. In that scenario, they will use the same priority date from their EU applications.

The full text can be found here.

An agreement between UK and EU on IPRs

WIPR reports about a general agreement between the UK and the EU regarding the protection of intellectual property rights after the Brexit transition period which is due to end on December 31, 2020.

According to the published draft of this agreement rights over European trademarks, Community designs, plant variety, and databases will be still valid on the UK territory even after the end of the transition period.

This news is of an utmost importance for all IPRs owners which have been in deep uncertainty until that moment what would happen with their intellectual property after Brexit.

Regardless of this progress, however, many experts still rise different additional questions which aim is to reveal the whole picture. For example, there is no clarity whether some fees will have to be paid for this ongoing protection, or what will happen with geographical indications, which are not part of the agreement, or whether UK attorneys will be able to represent clients before the EUIPO and so on.

Brief IP news

1. EQE pre-examination paper 2018 – online training course. For more information here.

2. Brands and online platforms: protecting your products. For more information here.

3. Brexit: opportunity or threat for the Art industry? For more information here.

Information from Intellectual Property Center at the UNWE. More information can be found here

What to happen with EU IP rights after Brexit – the EU Commission’s proposal

The European Commission issued a proposal what to happen with the different EU intellectual property rights after Brexit.

In brief the Commission’s proposal is as follow:

The holder of any intellectual property right having unitary character within the Union and granted before the withdrawal date should, after that date, be recognised as the holder of an enforceable intellectual property right in relation to the United Kingdom territory, comparable to the right provided by Union law – if need be on the basis of specific domestic legislation to be introduced.
In the specific case of protected geographical indications, protected designations of origin and other protected terms in relation to agricultural products (traditional specialities guaranteed and traditional terms for wine) protected under Union law before the withdrawal date, this principle should also imply that the United Kingdom puts in place, as of the withdrawal date, the necessary domestic legislation providing for their continued protection. Such protection should be comparable to that provided by Union law.

The implementation of this principle should include, in particular,the automatic recognition of an intellectual property right in the United Kingdom on the basis of the existing intellectual property right having unitary character within the Union.

Where applicable to the relevant right, the implementation of this principle should also
include:

• the determination of the renewal dates;
• the respect of priority and seniority principles;
• the adaptation of ‘genuine use’ requirements and ‘reputation’ rules to the specific situation under consideration.

The implementation of this principle should not result in financial costs for the holders of intellectual property rights having unitary character within the Union. Any related
administrative burden for such holders should be kept to a strict minimum.

Applications for Intellectual property rights having unitary character within the Union. Where an application for an intellectual property right having unitary character within the Union has been submitted before an Union body in accordance with Union law before the withdrawal date and the administrative procedure for the grant of the right concerned is still on-going on that date, the applicant should be entitled to keep the benefit of any priority date in respect of such pending application when applying after the withdrawal date for an equivalent intellectual property right in the United Kingdom.

More Information can be found here.

 

Brief IP news

1. Good News, Designers: The Robots Are Not Taking Your Jobs. For more information here.

2. Europe reforms its Copyright. Form more information here.

3. Food and Drink, Intellectual Property (IP) and Brexit. For more information here.

 

Brexit – What about IPexit

UK took its decision to leave EU once and for all. Apart from all potential politic and economic consequences, this decision has a direct effect on the IP protection in EU.

It’s widespread opinion that UK was one of the most preferable countries in EU regarding IP protection and management. UK is part of different EU systems for protection of trademarks, patents, designs, trade secrets and so on.

It is too earlier for any predictions what will happen with this IP protection, but it is clear that changes will occur sooner or later and they will be not a good news for the companies and IP owners not only in Europe but around the world too. For example, what will happen with all current EUTMs, are they will stay valid in UK as was the case when Serbia and Montenegro split up.

Another possible IP complication could be if Scotland and North Ireland decide that they want to leave UK and stay in EU.

So to sum up, now we have Brexit but in the future we will have more or less IPexit too.