Numbering for post-Brexit trade marks and designs
The numbering for equivalent UK registrations of Registered Community Designs and international registrations post-Brexit has been announced.
Whether there is a deal or no deal, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) is committed to giving all owners of existing EU registered trade marks and design registrations an equivalent UK registration to ensure continuation of protection. This includes international trade marks and designs filed via the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), designating the EU.
Last month the UK IPO announced the numbering prefix that will be applied to ‘cloned’ EU trade marks on the UK register. This is also detailed below.
The UK IPO has stated on its website that the ‘cloning’ onto the UK register of all EU Trade Marks, Registered Community Designs and international registrations designating the EU will take place “immediately before exit day”.
Registered Community Designs
All existing Registered Community Designs at Brexit will have their 13-digit RCD number prefixed with a ‘9’.
The UK IPO has provided the following examples:
| Existing RCD number | Re-registered UK design number |
|---|---|
| 004048098-0004 | 90040480980004 |
| 000000021-0001 | 90000000210001 |
EU Trade Marks
The prefix of “UK009” will be applied to the EUTMs that come over to the UK register in front of the last eight digits of the original EUTM. This will distinguish the comparable rights from trade marks already on the UK register.
On its website the UK IPO says: “These comparable UK rights will be recorded on the UK register and retain the filing dates recorded against the corresponding EUTM. They will also inherit any priority and/or seniority dates.”
“They will be fully independent UK trade marks which can be challenged, assigned, licensed or renewed, separately from the original EUTM.”
The UK IPO has provided the following examples:
| Existing EU Trade Mark | Comparable UK trade mark |
|---|---|
| 000000977 | UK00900000977 |
| 000025197 | UK00900025197 |
| 000340513 | UK00900340513 |
| 017867542 | UK00917867542 |
Click here to see the notice from the UK IPO on trade mark numbering.
International designs
Registered international designs that designate the EU via WIPO’s Hague system will keep their full international registration (EU) number, pre-fixed with an ‘8’ on the UK register.
The UK IPO has provided the following examples:
| International (EU) no. (WIPO database) | International (EU) no. (DesignView) | Re-registered design no. (IPO) |
|---|---|---|
| DM/069 640 | D069640-0001 | 806964000010000 |
| DM/069 629 | D069629-0001 | 806962900010000 |
| DM/069 629 | D069629-0002 | 806962900020000 |
To clarify the above, the UK IPO says on its website: “In the examples above a four-digit sequence is used as part of the international registration number as it would appear on the EUIPO’s DesignView database.
“Accordingly, in the first example ‘0001’ is a single design. In the second example ‘0001’ is a first design in a multiple application. In the third example ‘0002’ is a second design in a multiple application.”
International trade marks
International trade marks that designate the EU will keep the last eight digits of the international trade mark (EU) and will be prefixed with ‘UK008’ on the UK register.
The UK IPO has provided the following examples:
| WIPO | EUIPO | Comparable UK trade mark |
|---|---|---|
| 917273 (no sub designation, no partial assignment) | W00917273 | UK00800917273 |
| 917273A (no sub designation, partial assignment) | W00917273A | UK0080917273A |
| 1133775 (sub designation, no partial assignment) | W11133775 | UK00811133775 |
| 421058A (sub Designation & partial assignment) | W10421058A | UK0080421058A |