Brexit and its consequences

The UK's planned exit from the EU will also have an impact on the area of Community protection rights. In any case, at the moment, we believe that the situation is as follows:

Community patent

As things stand, it is not foreseeable that the Community patent will be introduced by the EU member states in 2017, despite the announcement by the British government that it will ratify the Treaty. We therefore recommend that European patents be validated within the usual time frame and that no longer wait for the introduction of the Community patent. As soon as we have new reliable information, we will inform you again. There are no signs of changes with regard to the well-known European patent system.

EU brand

At this stage, it is not foreseeable whether there will be a provision by which the status of an EU EU trade mark can be claimed retrospectively for a national British application. The only reliable recommendation from today's perspective is to apply for an additional national trademark for Great Britain or to extend an international trademark registration to Great Britain. For example, when closing the protection gap in Switzerland, it makes sense to include Great Britain at the same time by means of international trademark registration.

EU Community Design

For all pending design applications, we also recommend that you follow the international application procedures and, in addition to the “European Union” package, include Great Britain nationally. With regard to EU designs, it should be noted that subsequent filing is no longer possible, so this decision should be taken directly with the decision in favour of the EU Community design.