As highlighted in our previous article, one of the concerns raised by the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU was the protection in Britain of trademarks which are registered at EU level.
Currently, trademarks registered at the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) are protected throughout European Union territory. However, once the UK will stop forming part of EU territory, such protection will no longer be applicable within the UK. This raises the problem whether everything registered at EU level will have to be registered again within the UK for protection in the UK.
On the 19th of July 2018, Robin Walker, a British Member of Parliament, made it clear that trademarks registered at EU level will continue to be protected, and no additional cost will be levied against the trademark owner to do so. In his own words:
We have agreed to protect all existing EU trade marks, community registered designs and unregistered designs in the UK as we leave the EU. In place of those EU-level rights, 1.5 million new UK trademarks and registered designs will be granted automatically and for free.
Robin Walker, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, House of Commons debate (19 July 2018 )
