In our last post, we confirmed that for EU trademarks which are registered at the withdrawal date (either 29 March 2019 (no-deal scenario) or 31 December 2020 (deal scenario), new UK national rights will be cloned onto the UK register, automatically, without charge and retaining all relevant dates.

The UK IPO confirmed yesterday that each newly created cloned trademark (known as a “comparable mark”) will be distinguished from existing UK trademarks by the application of a prefix, UK009, to the last eight digits of the original EU trademark (EUTM). The UK IPO confirms that comparable marks “will be fully independent UK trademarks and can be challenged, assigned, licensed or renewed, separately from the original EUTM”.

The following examples show how comparable UK trademarks will be numbered:

Existing EU trademark           Comparable UK trademark

000000977                                       UK00900000977

000025197                                       UK00900025197

000340513                                       UK00900340513

017867542                                        UK00917867542

 

This information will help businesses and record keepers in preparations to update their trademark databases accordingly.

Contact

If you would like further information, or have questions, please contact:

Clare Jackman
Of Counsel and Chartered Trademark Attorney
Tel +44 20 7444 2235
clare.jackman@nortonrosefulbright.com