Brexit is all done and dusted (apart from the bits that aren’t), and the talk now is all about Frexit and Polexit……

On December 31^st 2020, the UK will leave the European Union trade mark and design systems.  We have prepared the following brief – and hopefully helpful – resumé of what is going to happen with Brexit and the main things that need to be considered.
 
Before we begin, please let us clarify that Brexit does not affect patents.  The European Patent Convention (“EPC”) is nothing to do with the EU and, although the UK is leaving the EU, it is remaining as a member of the EPC.
 
But, it is a different story for trade marks and designs...

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With an uncanny sense of comedic timing, the film “Stan & Ollie” is being released this month in the UK.  The famous duo’s catchphrase seems apt to describe the current state of the UK’s Brexit process.  We still do not know how or when, or even if, the UK will leave the EU.  However, if nothing changes, the UK will leave the EU on 29^th March 2019. 

The UK will officially leave the EU on March 29^th 2019.  There is provisionally a transitional period until December 31^st 2020, and we think the most likely outcome is that this will be extended, so that there is still plenty of time to sort out what to do about IP that is affected by Brexit.  However, with everyone falling out, a “nein deal” is now a genuine possibility, and the UK has recently issued no deal guidelines for intellectual property. 

No sooner has the EU Commission and the United Kingdom announced that they have agreed on a significant part of a draft Withdrawal Agreement, (which makes mention of intellectual property in Articles 50-57), than the Commission has issued a “Notice to Stakeholders” about .eu domain names.