A key Brexit-related deadline in relation to trade mark and design protection – 30 September 2021 - is approaching. Brand owners should review all of their EU applications that were pending at 1 January 2021 and ensure that steps have been taken to file separate UK applications, as appropriate, by 30 September 2021 to ensure that valuable protection is not lost in the UK.
As part of the Brexit arrangements agreed between the UK and the EU, an applicant for an EU trade mark or design that was pending at the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) can make an equivalent UK trade mark or design application by 30 September 2021 and retain the filing date (and any priority or seniority claims) of the corresponding EU application. The UK application will be examined by the UKIPO in the usual way and open to opposition by third parties.
The holder of a Registered Community Design (RCD) that has deferred publication of the RCD at the EUIPO can also preserve its earlier filing and priority dates in the UK by filing an equivalent UK registered design application by 30 September 2021.
The UK application must relate to the same trade mark (or design) that is in the corresponding EU application. Further, an application for a UK trade mark must seek protection in relation to the same goods and services as, or be contained within, the corresponding EU application.
For all applications filed at the UKIPO after 1 January 2021 - including for UK applications made on the basis set out above, i.e., where there was a pending EU application at the end of the Brexit transition period - it is necessary to have a UK address for service. For more information on the UKIPO's address for service requirements, click here.
If you would like to discuss re-filing trade mark and design applications in the UK, please get in touch.