From January 1, 2021, all EU Trade Marks (EUTM), Registered Community Designs (RCDs) and International Registrations designating will no longer provide protection in the United Kingdom.
Based on the Withdrawal Agreement, the IPO will create a re-registered UK design for every Registered Community design (RCD) and International design (EU) and a comparable UK trademark for registered EU trademark (EUTM) and every International trademark (EU) that is protected at the end of the transition period.
It is important to emphasize that the new UK rights will be treated as if they had been applied for and registered under the UK law, but only towards registered owners of an EU trademark, Registered Community Design or International Registration designs that have obtained them prior to 11pm on December 31, 2020.
- Trademarks
New UK trademark numbers for the comparable rights are created by taking the last eight digits of the existing EU Trademark number prefixed with ‘UK009’ and by taking the existing International Registrations designating the EU number prefixed with ‘UK008’.
- Registered Designs
New UK registered design numbers for the re-registered rights are created by taking the existing Community design number prefixed with ‘9’ and taking the existing International registrations designating the EU number and Design View number prefixed with ‘8’ and adding zeros to make it a 14 digit number.
- Opting out of a comparable UK registration
Lastly, if one does not want the comparable UK trademark or to re-register design, one can chose to opt out.
Nika Gavrilovic
Junior Consultant, Publishing department
19/03/2021
Contact Obelis today to find out more!
References:
- Intellectual Property Office. (2021). Guidance Retaining protection in the UK for EU Intellectual Property rights. Retrieved on 19.03.2021 from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/retaining-protection-in-the-uk-for-eu-intellectual-property-rights