Intellectual Property After Brexit

I know that you are all fed up with BREXIT, however now that we have left the EU, this is crucial to take into account. I wrote this a while ago and am sharing it with you now in the hope you’ll find value in it.

Is your business safe guarding what it is doing with regard to its unitary trade mark*, design, plant variety and geographical indications? Once the UK has left the EU the protection granted by those laws no longer apply here. In case you only have unitary protection, now is the time to get cracking on the protection here in the UK.

The protection in the EU will still stand, for the REGISTRATION in the EU, just not here in the UK because the UK will be considered 3rd country and you don’t really want to get caught out in that.

The very opposite goes for the businesses that are based in the EU, they will NOT be covered by the laws in the UK after Brexit. 

The date has been changed from 30 March 2019, 00:00h (CET) to the 31 October, 00:00 (CET). Do yourself a huge favour by not sitting on the fence with this one it will be seriously detrimental to your business and ultimately your clients. Contact me for info.

Oh, and as an extra bonus: the EU Copyright Directive will not be implemented in the UK, however the UK may at a later stage decide to implement similar legislation through domestic policies and law if the government should see fit to do so. Right now that seems less important.

*A unitary registration is valid in the 28 EU countries as long as they remain MEMBERS of the EU. If a unitary registration falls in one country it falls in all 28 (27 after Brexit) in one fell swoop. Remember the case of McDonalds vs Supermacs?