BREXIT: Intellectual property after 1 January 2021

The transition period ends on 31 December 2020. On 1 January 2021 there will be changes to UK intellectual property law to ensure the smooth departure from EU IP systems.

These changes will affect:

• Trade Marks and Designs
• Parallel trade from the UK to the EEA
• Unregistered Designs

Businesses are urged to: 

• Consider carefully where to disclose your designs to ensure they have adequate protection in their most important market;
• If you export IP-protected goods on the secondary or parallel market, contact the rights holder in the EEA to see if you have permission to continue to parallel export.
• Consider if you want exports to continue if you are a business that owns the IP rights for goods currently parallel exported from the UK to the EEA.

Key information is now available for customers and users of IP about how the IP system and the Intellectual Property Office will operate after the end of the transition period.

For further information please visit the GOV.UK website.