Earlier this week the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) updated its IP and Brexit: The Facts guide, which provides information on the future of IP rights after Brexit.
The guide, which was first created in August 2016, has been updated in the light of the flurry of Brexit-related publications and announcements in recent weeks in relation to IP. This includes the government's White Paper earlier this month, and the statement in Parliament last week (see our blogs here and here).
The latest version includes an update to the rights of representation section and provides a clearer indication of the government's ultimate aim in the ongoing negotiations. The government will "continue to work with the EU to ensure that there will be appropriate mechanisms in place for those UK practitioners who are representing clients before the CJEU and EUIPO in cases that are pending at the end of the implementation period". It will also seek to "establish a joint practice arrangement whereby UK and EU legal representatives will be able to jointly support clients with cases before EU institutions, including before the EUIPO and the CJEU".