EUIPO updates website ahead of Brexit

Article summary

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has updated the Brexit section on its website in preparation for the end of the UK’s transition period (31 December 2020). EUIPO noted that European trademark (EUTM) Regulations and the registered Community design (RCD) Regulations will continue to apply during the transition period, in particular, 'all substantive and procedural provisions as well as the rules concerning representation in proceedings before the EUIPO'. As a result, 'all proceedings before the Office that involve grounds of refusal pertaining to the territory of the UK, earlier rights originating from the UK, or parties/representatives domiciled in the UK will run as they did previously, until the end of the transition period'. From 1 January 2021, the Brexit section will detail how the EUIPO plans to manage the circumstances that the EUTM and RCD Regulations will cease to apply to the UK as from the end of the transition period.