Jerry Walder recently attended the CITMA Spring Conference 2018 in London and listened to a number of very interesting presentations.
CITMA President Kate O’Rourke kicked off the conference with a round up of the current Brexit position for EU trade marks and designs following the release of the draft EU withdrawal agreement.
The main points relating to intellectual property are:
- EU Registered TMs and Designs will automatically be “cloned” to provide an equivalent UK right;
- “Cloned” rights will keep the same filing and priority date as EU “parent” right;
- For pending EU TM and Design applications (as at 31/12/2020) there will be a priority period of 9 months (ie to 30/09/2021) to file corresponding UK applications.
These are still draft proposals and CITMA and other intellectual property organisations have raised objections to various aspects. They are continuing to lobby the negotiators on these points.
The draft proposals can be reviewed in full, here.
The provisions relating to intellectual property are contained primarily within Articles 50-57 (inclusive).
If you have any questions about the impact that these proposals would have on your current and future trade mark and design protection in the UK and EU, please contact us to discuss your options.
