Brexit will have a significant impact on intellectual property rights. EU law provides the legal framework for important pan-European rights which are of considerable value to IP owners, in particular, EU trade marks, design rights and database rights. A major concern for IP owners has therefore been the potential loss of these valuable pan-European rights in the UK after Brexit. After months of uncertainty, the future treatment of these rights - in both a deal and no deal scenario - has become much clearer. Deal or no deal, the Government has now committed to give IP rights owners rights in the UK equivalent to those they will lose in the EU on Brexit. In a no deal scenario there will be more action for rights owners to take to secure those rights, and likely additional costs. In some areas, the EU is not committing to grant equivalent rights so IP owners will need to monitor developments and potentially look for other protections. Our article explains the current state of play.
