At the end of the transition period, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) converted almost 1.4 million EU trademarks and 700,000 EU designs to comparable UK rights.

On 1 January 2021, The IPO created a comparable UK trademark for every registered EU trademark (EUTM). Each of these UK rights will:

• be recorded on the UK trademark register
• have the same legal status as if you had applied for and registered it under UK law
• keep the original EUTM filing date
• keep the original priority or UK seniority dates
• be a fully independent UK trademark that can be challenged, assigned, licensed or renewed separately from the original EUTM

This ensures “existing UK IP rights can be managed appropriately in line with existing domestic arrangements”.  Read more about what happens to IP after transition here.

Trademark application forms are changing – make the application by 28 January 2021

The Intellectual Property Office is making changes to the trademark application form (eTM3) on 29 January.  The office has asked everyone to submit saved trademark applications by Thursday 28 January 2021 to avoid losing your progress.

The changes to the trademark application form (eTM3) will result in any saved trademark applications being lost.  Once the changes to the form have been made, you will be able to save your applications using the ‘save for later’ function as normal.

For more information contact information@ipo.gov.uk or call 0300 300 2000.