At a summit in Brussels on 21st March 2019, the EU agreed a short delay to the Brexit process.
Brexit will now be delayed until 22nd May 2019 if the UK Parliament supports the withdrawal deal put forward by the Prime Minister.
If the UK Parliament rejects the Prime Minister’s plan for the third time, Brexit will be delayed only until 12th April 2019 at which time the UK will be required to set out its next moves or leave the EU without a deal in place.
Speaking at a press conference following the announcement of the extension, European Council President, Donald Tusk, said that until 12th April 2019, the UK Government “will still have a chance of a deal, no deal, a long extension or revoking Article 50″.
Implications for Intellectual Property:
The European Patent Office (EPO) is not an EU institution, so Brexit will have no effect on the current patent system. Regardless of whether there is a deal or not, post-Brexit, patent applications filed by Carpmaels & Ransford at the EPO will still cover the UK (via conventional national validation), and they will be litigated in the UK national courts as usual. The European Patent Convention will continue to be part of UK law, and our European patent attorneys will continue to act in the usual way in all matters before the EPO.
Further information can be found on our Brexit website pages. These provide further guidance on the position of intellectual property post-Brexit and in a “no deal” scenario. However, as a European IP firm, we are set up to continue to represent our clients in all of their European IP matters regardless of the outcome of Brexit. You will continue to receive the high levels of service and client care which you have come to expect. We will continue to monitor the situation as the subsequent votes take place.
If you have any queries in the meantime about the impact of Brexit on your IP strategy please speak to your usual contact at the firm.
