20 Apr Withdrawal Agreement Intellectual Property

Since 1 February 2020, the UK has left the EU. The Withdrawal Agreement provides for a transition period ending on 31 December 2020. It is to be expected that from 1 January 2021 there will be far-reaching and far-reaching consequences, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing Brexit negotiations. These companies may want to check whether an EEA company can own it or whether other methods of protecting the contents of the database (such as copyright or licensing agreements) may be appropriate. The UK government has applied to accede to the Lugano Convention, which would essentially replicate the Brussels recast regime. However, such accession requires an EU agreement, which has not yet been concluded. The system adopted by the ACC aims to ensure that Parties comply with their existing international treaty obligations, such as the TRIPS Agreement, which ensure an adequate and effective level of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. Although the ACC does not prevent a Party from introducing a higher level of protection, the basic position of the Agreement, which more generally reflects the United Kingdom`s position vis-à-vis third countries under its broader contractual obligations, is based on `national treatment`, `each Party granting nationals of the other Party treatment no less favourable than treatment, which it grants to its own nationals with regard to the protection of intellectual property`. The above is a summary and much more detailed information on post-Brexit trade mark and design regimes has been made available by the UKIPO on its website at: www.gov.uk/government/news/intellectual-property-and-the-transition-period companies based in the UK but not in the EU are no longer allowed to apply for new .eu domains after the end of the transition period; and their existing .eu domains are subject to indent and indent.

As a result, the United Kingdom is not in a position to conclude a bilateral agreement with the Member States in this area. Trade between EU Member States and the UK is now governed by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which entered into force on 31 December 2020 after the end of the Brexit transition period. The agreement contains a number of provisions relating to copyrights, trademarks, design rights and trade secrets. English contract law and its choice as the applicable law of an agreement are not affected by Brexit. As provided, the agreement does not grant any rights of representation before the EU Intellectual Property Office (IPO) (except in ongoing proceedings) or before the Court of Justice of the European Union. The transitional period has expired. On 1 January 2021, changes will be made to UK intellectual property law to ensure a smooth departure from EU intellectual property systems. www.gov.uk/government/news/intellectual-property-and-the-transition-period The agreement ensures legal certainty and continuity during the transition period and ensures continuity in the immediate future for businesses and consumers. International protection of geographical indications in the United Kingdom will be abolished from 1. January 2021 for products currently listed in EU free trade agreements and sectoral agreements of EU third countries (provided that the UK has signed a continuity agreement). The resulting changes – as shown below – were almost all due to the withdrawal agreement between the UK government and the EU at the end of 2019 and the subsequent Brexit implementation legislation introduced by the UK government in preparation for the end of the transition period.

Although the Trade and Cooperation Agreement concluded between the UK and the EU on Christmas Eve 2020 contains a 24-page section on the general standards of intellectual property protection to be applied by both parties, it has retained the Withdrawal Agreement and therefore has not made a significant difference from the important changes that have already been announced and analysed in detail below. Geographical indications remained a subject of disagreement throughout the negotiations on future relations in 2020. These guidelines set out the impact on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the UK and the EU from the end of the Brexit transition period. The UK has also indicated that it will not implement the Copyright Directive before leaving the EU and that future changes to the UK copyright system will be considered as part of the usual national political process. However, the trade deal being negotiated between the UK and the EU could lead to a broadly harmonised copyright protection system, in which case future differences between UK and EU copyright law could be limited. In addition, in accordance with Article 3(1)(e) and Article 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the EU is solely responsible for the negotiation and conclusion of international agreements on the commercial aspects of intellectual property. The United Kingdom has remained a member of the European Patent Convention but will not participate in the Unified Patent Court (UPC). On 20 July 2020, the United Kingdom announced its withdrawal from the ratification of the UPC Agreement. Withdrawal from UK and EU rules on exhaustion of intellectual property rights The UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020 on the basis of a withdrawal agreement that provides for an agreed transition period until at least 31 December 2020.

On 2 March, the European Union and the United Kingdom started negotiations on a new agreement on the future relationship, which, if agreed, will enter into force from 1 January 2021. During the transition period, EU rules and regulations, including those on intellectual property, will continue to apply to the UK and the UK will continue to be part of the EU`s single market and customs union. Added a new section Protection of intellectual property rights at the border with the United Kingdom. It was not expected that the rights of representation before EU courts and bodies would be taken into account in the negotiations on the future agreement. Due to the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement, EU law in and in relation to the United Kingdom will only apply until 31 December 2020. Licences and coexistence agreements should be reviewed before the end of the transition period. If the UK is not explicitly mentioned, but one of the listed territories is „the EU“, an amendment to the agreement or licence should be considered, especially if the UK is a significant market. If the need to legally enforce their rights arises after the end of the transition period, holders will have to initiate two types of proceedings (one in a UK court and the other in an EU court), and increased litigation costs are inevitable. Intellectual property rights holders should use the conclusion of the new EU-UK trade agreement to check whether their intellectual property protection is in line with their business strategy, even if, in practice, the agreement does not change much in terms of rights in the short term. Some of the intellectual property issues mentioned above may be included in the negotiations on the future PARTNERSHIP between the EU and the UK and, if so, the information will be updated once an agreement has been reached.

As the UK is now outside the EU Customs Union, EU customs authorities will no longer enforce the UK`s intellectual property rights at their borders, but under the ACC it is envisaged that both sides will cooperate to enforce „the intellectual property rights of customs authorities, including the exchange of information and best practices in customs operations, which focus in particular on the enforcement of intellectual property rights“. Therefore, right holders should ensure that they continue to submit their requests for action to the EU customs authorities and submit a new request for action from the UNITED Kingdom to ensure that the UNITED Kingdom border guard force takes action at the border to stop the importation of counterfeit goods. Existing registered Community designs (RCDs) and unregistered Community designs (UCITS) are no longer valid in the United Kingdom. These duties are automatically replaced by comparable duties from the United Kingdom. . For more information on renewals, the unsubscribe process and numbering, as well as more information on the topics covered in this section, please see our Business Guidelines. The way companies protect their intellectual property rights at the UK border will change when the transition period ends on 31 December 2020. From that date, all of the UK`s protection within the EU will no longer be recognised. . Goods placed on the market in the United Kingdom are not considered to be exhausted in the EEA. . .

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