The updates to IP law caused by Brexit came into effect on 1st January 2021
The UK left the EU on 31st January 2020 and entered into an 11-month transition period which ended on 31st December 2020. With the transition period now over, some amendments have been made in order to maintain pre-existing IP rights.
EU Trade Marks and Registered Community Designs are administered through the EUIPO, which is an EU institution. Whilst EU Trade Marks and Registered Community Designs remained unchanged during the transition period, there are changes now that the transition period has ended.
The European Patent Office (EPO) is not an EU institution, so the current patent system is not impacted by the UK’s departure from the EU. 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.
As a European IP firm, we are set up to continue to represent our clients in all of their European IP matters. You will continue to receive the high levels of service and client care which you have come to expect. We summarise briefly below the effects of Brexit on some important aspects of IP. In the meantime, if you would like additional information, please get in touch with your usual contact at Carpmaels & Ransford.