What Brexit did to trade marks
Until the end of 2020 a single EU trade mark covered all member states plus the UK. When the transition period ended, the UK ceased to be covered, and the two systems separated permanently.
The transition itself was handled generously. Every EU trade mark registered at that point produced a comparable UK right automatically, with the same filing and priority dates, at no cost and with no application required. If you held EU protection before 2021, you almost certainly hold UK protection as well, whether or not anyone told you.
When was the mark filed?
Registered as an EU mark before 2021
You should hold both
- A comparable UK right was created automatically
- Same filing and priority dates preserved
- Both now renew separately, on their own cycles
- Worth confirming the UK clone actually exists
Filed from 2021 onward
One territory only
- An EU filing does not reach the UK
- A UK filing does not reach the EU
- Two applications are needed for both
- Priority can sometimes be claimed between them
Registering properly
- 01Before launch
Search before you commit to the name
The expensive outcome is not a refused application, it is discovering an earlier conflicting right after you have printed signage, bought a domain and built a customer base around a name you have to abandon.
- 02At filing
Choose the classes for the business you will have
Registration is by class of goods and services. Filing too narrowly leaves the obvious extension unprotected; filing across everything invites objections and later non-use challenges.
- 03At filing
File in each territory you actually trade in
UK and EU separately since 2021. Where you sell into both, one filing is a gap rather than an economy.
- 04Afterwards
Use it, and watch it
A mark unused for five years becomes vulnerable to revocation. A mark nobody polices gets diluted by similar later filings that could have been opposed cheaply.
The IP your company does not own
This surfaces most often in due diligence, at the worst possible moment, and the pattern is consistent.
Check who actually owns each of these
- Work created by founders before the company existed. It belongs to them personally until assigned in writing.
- Anything built by a contractor or agency. Absent an express assignment, the creator generally retains copyright even though you paid for it.
- The logo, which was very often designed by a freelancer on an invoice with no IP terms at all.
- Code written by someone who was not an employee, including the technical co-founder who was never on payroll.
- Domain names and social accounts registered in an individual's personal name.
What I handle
- Trade mark filing and prosecution in the UK and the EU, including clearance searching.
- Portfolio review after Brexit, to establish what is actually protected where.
- Oppositions and objections, on either side.
- Licensing and assignment, including cleaning up IP a company does not own.
- Enforcement: infringement, passing off, and take-downs against copycat listings and domains.
- IP terms in commercial contracts, which is where most of this is either fixed or created.
What it costs
Filing work is fixed-fee and quoted before it starts, per mark and per territory, with official fees shown separately as disbursements. Clearance searching is fixed-fee. Oppositions and infringement matters are quoted with a written estimate first, since they depend on how the other side behaves. Full published fees for other work are on the fees page.
Common questions
Does my EU trade mark still cover the UK?
Only if it was registered before the end of 2020, in which case a comparable UK right was created automatically with the same filing and priority dates. Anything filed at the EUIPO from 2021 onward covers the EU only, and a separate UK application is needed for protection here.
Do I need to register in both the UK and the EU?
If you trade in both, yes. They are separate territories with separate registers, and a registration in one gives no rights in the other. The cost of a second filing is very small next to the cost of rebranding a business that turns out to have no protection in one of its markets.
How long does trade mark registration take?
Typically around four months in the UK where nobody opposes, and broadly comparable at the EUIPO. Both include a publication period during which third parties can oppose, which is what most of the time is spent on.
Who owns work created by a freelancer we paid?
Usually the freelancer, unless there is a written assignment. Paying for work buys the work, not necessarily the copyright in it. This is the most common ownership gap in small companies and it is easiest to fix at the time rather than years later during a sale.
Can I lose a registered trade mark by not using it?
Yes. A mark that has not been genuinely used for a continuous period of five years becomes vulnerable to revocation on that ground. Registration is the beginning of a right that has to be used and maintained, not a permanent grant.
Someone is selling copies of our product online. What can be done?
Usually a combination: a letter putting the seller on notice, take-down requests through the marketplace's own infringement process, and proceedings where the scale justifies it. Which route works depends heavily on whether the infringer is identifiable and where they are, so establishing that comes first.
This page states the law of England & Wales and Lithuania as at 18 August 2026. It is general information, not advice on your matter, and reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship.