Trade Marks: Owners of EU trade marks will still have valid EU trademarks in the remaining EU States, but existing EU Trade Marks (EUTMs) no longer apply in the UK since the UK has left the EU. The UK government has brought in legislation to ensure that those holding existing EUTM registrations will have a new UK equivalent or “clone” right granted automatically and without charge, which will aim to provide continuing protection and enforceability. Filing, priority and seniority dates are all retained. Existing EUTMs will still protect trade marks in member states and UK businesses can still apply to the EU IPO for an EUTM.
Registered Designs: as Registered Community Designs (RCD) no longer apply in the UK, the IPO will create a re-registered design for every RCD.
Unregistered Designs: To ensure that all Unregistered Community Design Rights (UCDR) continue to be protected and enforceable in the UK after 1 January 2021, the government has created a new Supplementary Unregistered Design (SUD) right
Database rights: for sui generis database rights, a database created in the UK after 1 January 2021 will no longer be protected in the EEA through database rights. Database rights existing before 1 January 2021 will continue to exist in the UK and the EEA for the rest of their duration.
Patents: The European Patent is independent from the EU and so should not be directly affected by the end of the Transition Period. You can continue to apply for a European patent through the IPO or the European Patent Office (EPO) using the European Patent Convention.
Copyright: Protection of works by copyright isn’t harmonised across the EU and is largely governed by international treaties, meaning the effect of the end of the Transition Period will be limited. Most UK copyright works will still be protected in the EU and the UK. However, arrangements in certain areas will change, such as cross-border portability of online content services, reciprocal protection for database rights and the orphan works exception.
Parallel Trade: Whilst parallel imports into the UK from the EEA are unaffected, businesses parallel exporting IP protected goods from the UK to the EEA may need to seek right holder’s consent as from 1 January they may no longer be considered exhausted in the EEA.
EU domain names: after 1 January 2021 these will no longer be able to held by UK entities.