Guidance

Intellectual property and Brexit

Guidance on trade marks, designs, patents right law, and exhaustion of IP rights after Brexit.

Published 10 October 2019
From:
Intellectual Property Office

Stay up to date

Get ready for Brexit on 31 October. This page tells you what to do if there’s a no-deal Brexit. It will be updated if anything changes, including if a deal is agreed.

Sign up for email alerts to get the latest information.

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.

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 in the event of no Brexit deal

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 in the event of Brexit without a withdrawal agreement

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 registered design, design right and international design and trade mark law if the UK leaves the EU without a deal

Patents

This guidance sets out the changes to the law relating to patents and supplementary protection certificates (SPCs).

Changes to SPC and patent law in the event of Brexit without a withdrawal agreement

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 intellectual property rights if there’s a no-deal 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:

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.

Published 10 October 2019
Contents

Related content