IPO Guidance on Brexit

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has published a guide on how intellectual property (IP) law is likely to be affected following Britain's withdrawal from the EU. The IPO's aim is to 'continue to protect all existing registered European Union Trade Marks, Registered Community Designs, and Unregistered Community Designs as we leave the EU'.

Essentially, what is proposed is a continuation of the status quo, with UK organisations having the same IP protections they do now in the EU, and EU organisations having their current IP rights in the UK recognised. Pronouncing itself confident that a 'no deal' exit is unlikely, the IPO says that 'it is in no one's interests for there to be a cliff edge, and so the laws and rules that we have now will, so far as possible, continue to apply'.

However, the IPO has also published a series of guides in the event of a 'hard Brexit'. These cover the following areas:

• ·       Trade Marks and Designs;
• ·       Patents;
• ·       Copyright; and
• ·       Exhaustion of IP rights.

All can be found on the IPO website..