New York Trademark Attorney Blog
As most already know, the United Kingdom (UK) left the European Union (EU) on January 31, 2020. The UK remained within the EU’s structure for trademarks during this transition period. The transition period will end on December 31, 2020. New UK “comparable rights” will be created. After the transition period, all EU trademark rights holders will be granted comparable rights in the UK. These comparable rights will also exist for marks that designated the EU in an International Registration through the Madrid Protocol. For more information on International Registrations, see our webpage entitled, International Trademark Filings and our webpage entitled, Madrid Protocol Trademark Filings. The UK Trademark Office will not require any additional examination of the trademark registration, nor will there be any additional fees due.
The comparable rights in the UK will maintain the same filing date, priority date and renewal dates as the EU registration. The trademark registration number will be the eight-digit number of the EU registration preceded by the letters UK. The UK Intellectual Property Office requires that a trademark applicant maintain a UK address for service. However, there will be certain exceptions made for EU registered trademarks for a limited time period which will enable right holders ample time to provide the UK Trademark Office with this information.
Please note that any trademark applications pending with the EU at the end of the transition period will not be allowed comparable rights. Instead, there will be a grace period of nine months where the EU trademark application will be given an opportunity to be re-filed in the UK. If the applicant takes advantage of the nine month “grace period” and re-files in the UK, then it can maintain the same priority filing date as the EU application. However, The UK Trademark Office will require a new period for opposition of the application filed during the grace period.