Guidance
Intellectual property and Brexit
Guidance on trade marks, designs, patents right law, and exhaustion of IP rights after Brexit.
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The UK is leaving the EU. This page tells you how to prepare for Brexit and will be updated if anything changes.
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The guidance on this page explains the changes and actions you may need to take for specific areas of intellectual property and is for guidance only.
Consider whether you need separate professional advice before making specific preparations.
For information on geographical indication protection see Guidance on protecting food and drink names in a no-deal Brexit.
Copyright
This guidance outlines the changes to copyright law as a result of a number of cross-border copyright arrangements that are unique to EU law.
Changes to copyright law after Brexit
Trade marks
The existing UK system for protecting trade mark rights will remain largely unaffected by Brexit.
This guidance relates to EUTMs only and sets out the changes we are making to UK law in a no-deal Brexit.
Changes to trade mark law after Brexit
Watch a video about trade mark after Brexit
Registered community designs and international trade mark and design rights
Information relating to registered community designs and international trade mark and design rights will be published in due course.
Watch a video about unregistered community design after Brexit
Watch a video about registered community design after Brexit
Designs
This guidance explains the changes to UK law that preserve existing design and international rights. It covers the impact of those changes on UK right holders.
Changes to EU and international designs and trade mark protection after Brexit
Patents
This guidance sets out the changes to the law relating to patents and supplementary protection certificates (SPCs).
Changes to SPC and patent law after Brexit
Watch a video about patent protection after Brexit
Exhaustion of IP rights
The UK will continue to recognise EEA exhaustion in a no-deal scenario but there may be restrictions on the parallel export of goods from the UK to the EEA. Find out what you need to do to prepare.
Exhaustion of IP rights and parallel trade after Brexit
Watch a video about Exhaustion of IP after Brexit
Legislation
The UK government has made technical changes through legislation in Parliament using powers under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.
The following 6 Statutory Instruments were laid in Parliament between 23 July 2018 and 31 January 2019:
- The Design Right (Semiconductor Topographies) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations
- The Intellectual Property (Exhaustion of Rights) (EU Exit) Regulations
- The Trade Marks (Amendments etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations
- The Patents (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations
- The Intellectual Property (Copyright and Related Rights) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations
- The Designs and International Trade Marks (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations
Supplementary protection certificate law
New EU law on supplementary protection certificates came into force in July 2019. A draft of legislation to make changes to this new law on Brexit was open for consultation from 5 July 2019 to 9 August 2019.
Read the draft supplementary protection certificate legislation consultation for more information.