What does a no Brexit deal mean for intellectual property rights?

Following the publication on 24 September 2018 by the UK government of 24 technical notices on a no deal Brexit scenario, members of our IP team (Alice Boyd, Caroline Bass, Nicole Jadeja, Shalini Jayaweera, Claire Keepax and Rebecca Pakenham-Walsh) take each IP right in turn and explain the impact of a no Brexit deal on these IP rights.

On 24 September 2018, the Department for Exiting the European Union published no less than 24 technical notices providing guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if the UK leaves the EU without an agreement in place – i.e. there is a 'no deal' scenario. The document is sure to point out that despite the publication of such no-deal documents, a no deal scenario still "remains unlikely given the mutual interests of the UK and the EU in securing a deal". However, as we edge closer and closer to 'B-Day' on 29 March 2019, the nation is starting to get twitchy, and this current surge of no deal documents is only likely to further exacerbate the current state of unease. The government maintains that the no deal guidance is nothing more than an insurance policy and that it is unlikely we will need to rely on it.

Of the 24 notices, 5 relate to IP and cover: (i) copyright; (ii) trade marks and designs: (iii) protecting geographical food and drink names; (iv) patents; and (v) exhaustion of intellectual property rights.

Click here for the full briefing paper.